Overview of Small Cell Lung Cancer

Most people should be unfamiliar with small cell lung cancer. So what kind of disease is small cell lung cancer? And since it is lung cancer, it should be a very serious disease, right? How serious is small cell lung cancer? Let us give a detailed introduction to the overview of small cell lung cancer.

Small cell lung cancer is one of the basic types of lung cancer. It belongs to undifferentiated cancer. Its pathological types include oat cell type, intermediate cell type and compound oat cell type. One third of lung cancer patients belong to this type. It is a highly malignant lung cancer. Smokers are the high-risk population. More than 90% of patients with small cell lung cancer have a history of smoking. The age of onset is about 35-68 years old, with an average age of 60 years old, and more men than women. Small cell lung cancer may be asymptomatic in the early stage. The most common symptoms at diagnosis are fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, weight loss, pain, and hemoptysis. The treatment of small cell lung cancer is mainly chemotherapy, which can be combined or sequentially with radiotherapy. For less than 5% of early patients limited to the lung parenchyma, surgical treatment is considered. Limited-stage SCLC is mainly treated with synchronous chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy and radiotherapy sequential treatment. Synchronous chemoradiotherapy is better than sequential treatment. Synchronous chemoradiotherapy should be started as early as possible, and preventive whole-brain radiotherapy should be given. Preventive whole-brain radiotherapy has significant benefits for survival. Extensive-stage SCLC is mainly treated with chemotherapy, and local or metastatic lesions are treated at an elective time.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for about 20% to 25% of lung cancer. According to recent epidemiological data, this type has been on a downward trend. SCLC is derived from the malignant transformation of Kulchitsky cells of the lung. The WHO divides it into three types: oat cell type, intermediate cell type and mixed cell type. The disease is more common in men than in women; the site of onset is mostly large bronchi (central type). The clinical characteristics are: short tumor cell doubling time, rapid progression, often accompanied by endocrine abnormalities or carcinoid syndrome; because patients have hematogenous metastasis in the early stage and are sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the treatment of small cell lung cancer should be based on systemic chemotherapy, combined with radiotherapy and surgery as the main treatment methods. Comprehensive treatment is the key to the successful treatment of small cell lung cancer.