[Biology and surgery of small cell bronchial cancer]

The small cell type is encountered in 10 per cent of all operations for lung cancer. It is centrally localised in about 70 per cent, thus pneumonectomy has to be performed as long as the tumour is operable. If the operation is performed as long as lymph node metastases are absent the 5 year survival rate comes up to 39 per cent. This result is in favour of surgery. The 5 year survival rate of all resected cases of small cell carcinomas amounts to about 18 per cent. Paraneoplastic symptoms are rare, they could only be traced in a percentage of 4.5 (n = 389).