Case Discussion with Dr. Nasser Hanna: Managing Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

Here is the last case I discussed several months ago with Dr. Nasser Hanna, lung cancer expert at Indiana University.  After two cases that included never or light former smokers, which he joked that I saw far more of than he did, we changed direction to cover current issues in managing extensive stage small cell [...]

Picoplatin for SCLC — Another One Bites the Dust

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a colleague at an affiliated hospital with the title, “Another one bites the dust.” Now I love Queen as much as the next guy, but I don’t like seeing this line in reference to new oncology drugs. In this case, the drug was picoplatin.
Picoplatin [...]

Can BCL-2 inhibitors make progress in SCLC?

   The development of targeted therapy drugs has improved survival for patients with NSCLC, and the “pipeline” of agents in development awaiting further testing in clinical trials seems to be increasing by the day.  The improvements in survival in particular subpopulations of patients with NSCLC inspires both patients and physicians who treat lung cancer to [...]

Interview with Dr. Toni Wozniak, Covering SCLC Basics

  I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Toni Wozniak, Moedical Oncologist and lung cancer expert at the Barbara A. Karmanos Cancer Center at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.  We covered several topics, including SCLC, the subject of this podcast. It is an audio interview but includes a few figures that [...]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Carboplatin/Irinotecan Combination for SCLC: A Phase II Study

    Several years ago, I participated in a clinical trial with a combination of carboplatin and irinotecan for treatment of extensive SCLC, just now being published (abstract here).   As a bit of background about the potential utility of irinotecan, the well established cornerstone of treatment of extensive SCLC for about two decades has been a [...]

What I Really Do: Relapsed SCLC

   The treatment of relapsed SCLC isn’t especially controversial, because this is an area where there aren’t enough breakthroughs.  In someone fit enough to perform their own activities of daily living and getting out of the house, the main question is how long it has been since they completed their first line treatment.  Although some [...]

SCLC with Pleural Effusions: Is there Benefit to Adding Radiation?

   In my earliest introductory post about SCLC, I described the typical staging breakdown used clinically, which is essentially divided into limited disease SCLC (LD-SCLC), which is typically treated with chemo and chest radiation together, with curative intent, and extensive disease SCLC (ED-SCLC), which is typically treated with chemo alone and is not considered conventionally curable.  But [...]

Consolidation Radiation to Residual Chest Disease After Chemo for Extensive SCLC?

   Here’s a situation in which I learned something from the questions raised by people here online.   A handful of people with extensive disease small cell lung cancer (ED-SCLC) in the last year or two have mentioned receiving radiation for areas of residual apparent disease after receiving initial chemotherapy.  I had noted that I had never [...]

Amrubicin in Relapsed SCLC: Continued Momentum at ASCO

   Last year, I had the occasion in two prior posts (here and here) to highlight a new agent called amrubicin that is being studied in relapsed SCLC.  At an ASCO conference where most of the news in SCLC was disappointing, amrubin studies again appeared promising. 
   The first of these studies was reported by Dr. David Ettinger at [...]

Alimta Disappointing in Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC)

   As described in my last post, one of the interesting points we’ve seen from the recent trial of maintenance alimta vs. placebo after first line chemo for advanced NSCLC is that alimta’s beneficial effects appear to be concentrated on the 2/3 of patients with non-squamous cancers, while the patients with squamous cell NSCLC did [...]