[Prevention of recurrence of small-cell lung cancer by adjuvant polychemotherapy (author's transl)]

No significant further improvement can be awaited in the results of purely surgical treatment of bronchial carcinoma. As from 1969--after preliminary studies--patients with bronchial carcinoma were treated by radical surgery and subsequently assigned within the framework of a randomized cooperative study, to a three-year course of intermittent high-dose polychemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, 5-FU, MTX and Velbe). A comparison according to the life-table method of the death rate of patients with small-cell bronchial carcinoma treated by combined polychemotherapy after surgery vis-à-vis those who received no polychemotherapy shows a rise of about 15% in the 4-year survival rate. This clear-cut improvement in survival rate emphasizes the fact that the radical operation is also indicated in these tumour forms and that the results of high-dose polychemotherapy are improved with this particular combination. With a view to confirmation and further improvement, a large international working group was established and has already submitted initial positive results concerning the applicability of a new alternating chemotherapeutic schedule. It is pointed out that the initial impetus towards undertaking such studies was given by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Denk already in 1954 and that the consistent continuation of this combined inter-disciplinary approach to the therapy of bronchial carcinoma is founded on his scientific foresight and organisational achievements.