The doctors discuss the circumstances under which small cell lung cancer patients should receive prophylactic cranial irradiation.

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Every year, many of the most important developments in cancer care are presented at ASCO. This year, we've got what I think is a very important year in lung cancer, with several practice-changing results/.

Drs. Mary Pinder, Nate Pennell, and Jack West discuss whether the finding of improving progression-free survival with maintenance sorafenib for SCLC should change the standard of care for treatment of extensive stage disease.

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Here's a brief video that explains my approach to a so-called "mixed response" to treatment for a lung cancer.  

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There isn't a formal teaching or "best answer" about how to approach this issue, but what I explain here is a common and I think very sensible strategy for a still controversial clinical setting (if I do say so myself).  I'd welcome your comments.

I hope you find it helpful if you or someone you care about faces this situation.

Though there are many presentations to discuss in the wake of ASCO, we'll need to pace ourselves on these. I and some of the other faculty members will offer thoughts on some of these in the coming weeks, and we also have our upcoming post-ASCO review on June 23rd (click here to learn more and sign up for this free online program).

Here is the discussion about the study of picoplatin vs. placebo for relapsed SCLC, from the post-ASCO review that I did with Dr. Pennell. Unfortunately, this work was an overall disappointment, not quite beating placebo in a setting for which we already have a more active alternative. Here's the transcript and figures from that portion of the discussion.

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This is the second of two parts in the Reference Library by Dr. Gadgeel on small cell lung cancer.

Patients with Limited Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

General Introduction to Small Cell Lung Cancer Lung cancer consists of two major types: small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Approximately 85% percent of all lung cancer patients have NSCLC, and the remaining 15% have SCLC.