Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract
SMALL-CELL lung cancer accounts for 20 to 25 per cent of all lung cancers and was diagnosed in more than 20,000 patients in the United States in 1978. This neoplasm differs substantially from other major histologic types of lung cancer, and treatment has recently been improved. Thus, a brief review of the clinical and therapeutic aspects is timely.Causation and Cellular OriginThe development of small-cell and squamous-cell lung cancers is irrefutably related to cigarette smoke.1 In nonsmokers, small-cell lung cancer is extremely rare,2 except in the following groups: those exposed to whole-body irradiation,3 uranium miners4 and workers exposed to . . .