Description

There has been a rapid increase in the incidence of lung cancer since the 1930s. The association between cigarette smoking and lung cancer was first proposed in 1941, and has been substantiated with epidemiological studies. Thus, as the numbers of cigarette-smoking individuals in a given population rises and falls, so do the rates of lung cancer. Lung cancer can be classified as either small cell lung cancer (SCLC) or non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), based on the characteristics of the disease and its response to treatment, with chemotherapy being the main form of treatment in patients with SCLC. The three courses in this suite discuss the cause, diagnosis, and treatment of small cell lung cancer.