Management of small-cell lung cancer

Cancer mortality in Europe, after a long-term increase, has actually fallen in recent years [1]. Although there was an 11% fall in lung cancer mortality in men in the European Union, there was an increase in women of 15% [2]. Lung cancer mortality rates remain highest for males in Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Belgium and the Russian Federation, and for women in Scotland, Denmark, Iceland, Hungary, England and Wales. An overview of trends since 1960 has shown a fall or levelling off of lung cancer mortality for men in the last decade in most countries except Portugal and Romania. Unfortunately, for women a general upward trend has been noted except in Denmark, Iceland, Ireland and the UK, with an actual fall in the Russian Federation [1]. Lung cancer will continue to be the major cancer problem in Europe for several decades to come unless more effective tobacco control is instituted [1]. Furthermore, there has been a decrease in the proportion of lung cancer patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), currently 14% in the USA [3].