Analysis of long-term survivors with small-cell lung cancer

Survival among patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) appears to have improved over the last 15 years. However, 2- to 3-year survival is still only 10% to 25% for patients with limited disease and 1% to 2% for those with extensive disease. Moreover, relapse of SCLC and the development of other cancers are common in patients surviving beyond 2 years. Clearly, new innovative therapy is needed, and continued research with recently developed agents is warranted. Modern multimodality therapy may have a role in patients with surgically resectable stage I or II disease, but development of better chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, hyperfractionation radiotherapy, and radiosensitizers will be necessary for most SCLC patients. Recently discovered prognostic indicators should help target individual SCLC patients for specific intensive treatments designed to prolong survival and achieve a cure.