title: Surgical treatment of early stage small cell lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chemotherapy with radiation has to be considered the standard therapy for limited-stage small cell lung cancer but surgical resection is possible in a small subgroup in which it may improve survival. Surgery is not recommended as the standard treatment, but a few small studies have demonstrated a benefit of surgery in highly selected cases of limited-stage small cell lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective study of 29 patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer undergoing surgical resection in our department. There were 7 (24%) women and 22 (76%) men with a median age of 62 years (range, 46-82 years). Medical history, histology and survival status were extracted from the medical database of the University Medical Center Freiburg.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median overall survival was 20.7 months. In 15 patients who received neoadjuvant treatment, the median survival was 89.4 months. Karnofsky performance status and neoadjuvant chemotherapy had a significant influence on median survival (p <0.0004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that surgical resection can be beneficial in a highly selected group of patients as a part of a multidisciplinary approach. In addition, surgical resection is safe with acceptable mortality and morbidity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Till.Ploenes@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Till
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ploenes
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Osei-Agyemang
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krohn
authors.forename: Gian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kayser
authors.forename: Meike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: Bernward
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Passlick
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055752:Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015996:Survival Rate