Surgery usually removes the “known” lesions, but postoperative chemotherapy, called adjuvant chemotherapy, is sometimes needed to eliminate as many of the tiny remaining lesions that are invisible to the naked eye as possible and to reduce the risk of recurrence and metastasis. adjuvant chemotherapy was first used for breast cancer in 1968. In addition, there are other adjuvant therapies such as adjuvant radiotherapy.
Small cell lung cancer is “malignant,” progresses rapidly, and metastasizes early, and only a very small number of patients with small cell lung cancer have a chance for surgery at the time of diagnosis. According to our lung cancer guidelines, these early stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) require adjuvant chemotherapy after radical surgery. The term “early stage” refers to a tumor that is less than 5 cm in size and does not invade surrounding lymph nodes or vital organs, and has no distant metastases, which is medically indicated by T1-2N0.
The chemotherapy regimen is usually etoposide + cisplatin/carboplatin.
Co-reviewed by Dr. Zhang Tao, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute