Treatment of small cell lung cancer. Recent experience of the EORTC Lung Cancer Cooperative Group

In this paper an overview of the activities since 1982 of the EORTC Lung Cancer Cooperative Group is given. Although the last decade has brought only small improvements, several important questions have been answered. Prognostic factors, optimal duration of chemotherapy, retreatment policies, non-cross resistant combinations and chemotherapy of brain metastases have been the subject of cooperative effort during the last ten years, allowing better choices to be made in the treatment of individual patients. Currently the place and timing of radiotherapy and the efficacy of several new drugs are under study. In order to assess reliably the relatively small gains of different treatment options, cooperative groups like the EORTC LCCG will continue to play an important role in the future.