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4 treatment settings, 3 with more than one named option. Each section lays out the options the standard of care names, what each is for, the trials behind them with their recorded results, the side effects and cautions on record, and questions to ask. Built from the cancer page's standard-of-care rows; nothing here is advice for your case.
Four cycles of cisplatin or carboplatin plus etoposide with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy (45 Gy twice daily or 60 to 66 Gy once daily) started by cycle two, then durvalumab for up to two years in patients without progression (ADRIATIC).
Platinum plus etoposide has been the chemotherapy backbone of small-cell lung cancer for over 40 years, and is now given with immunotherapy.
Cisplatin is the original platinum chemotherapy, discovered by accident in 1965; it cures testicular cancer and makes radiation work better in cervical and head and neck cancer.
Carboplatin is a platinum chemotherapy that crosslinks DNA; it is part of the standard pre-surgery regimen for triple-negative breast cancer.
Etoposide is a chemotherapy from the mayapple plant, essential to curing testicular cancer (BEP), treating small-cell lung cancer, lymphomas, childhood sarcomas and leukaemias, and used in transplant conditioning.
IMRT and IGRT shape the radiation beam to the tumour's outline from multiple angles and check the patient's position with a scan before every session, so surrounding organs receive less dose. Fewer, larger doses are now standard in breast and prostate cancer, but a low-dose bath still spreads across normal tissue.
A PD-L1 blocker that became standard after chemoradiation for stage III lung cancer, and now in bladder, biliary, and gastric cancers.
No significant difference; twice-daily 45 Gy remains standard.
OS 55.9 vs 33.4 months, HR 0.73.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Pneumonitis (any cause, PACIFIC) · vs 12.8% placebo; 1.1% fatal | 18.3% | - |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Prophylactic cranial irradiation (25 Gy in 10 fractions) or MRI surveillance every three months in patients who decline it or are older; hippocampal avoidance where available.
Small-cell lung cancer spreads to the brain so often that doctors used to irradiate the whole brain pre-emptively. Regular MRI scans are now challenging that practice.
MRI uses a strong magnet and radio waves, with no ionising radiation, to picture soft tissue in finer contrast than CT, so it is the standard scan for brain tumours, prostate, rectal cancer staging, liver lesions and breast screening in high-risk women. It is slow, expensive and blurred by movement.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
Lobectomy with node dissection then four cycles of platinum-etoposide; radiotherapy if nodes are positive.
Platinum plus etoposide has been the chemotherapy backbone of small-cell lung cancer for over 40 years, and is now given with immunotherapy.
No trial record is attached to this row yet. The trials tab lists what is recruiting and the landmark trials for this cancer.
No side-effect rates or interaction flags are recorded for these options yet. The side-effect lookup and interaction checker cover the products that have them.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.
As for extensive-stage disease: tarlatamab, lurbinectedin or topotecan, or rechallenge with platinum-etoposide if relapse is late.
The first T-cell engager to improve survival in a common solid tumour, small-cell lung cancer.
A marine-derived chemotherapy that jams cancer's gene-reading machinery, approved for relapsed small-cell lung cancer and, since 2025, as first-line maintenance with atezolizumab.
Topotecan is the long-standing second-line chemotherapy for relapsed small-cell lung cancer, and now the comparator that new drugs must beat.
Platinum plus etoposide has been the chemotherapy backbone of small-cell lung cancer for over 40 years, and is now given with immunotherapy.
OS HR 0.60.
| Side effect | Any grade | Grade 3+ |
|---|---|---|
| Fatigue · DeLLphi-301, n=187 | 51% | 10% |
| Haemoglobin decreased · DeLLphi-301, n=187 | 58% | 5% |
| Decreased appetite · DeLLphi-301, n=187 | 34% | 2.7% |
| Cytokine release syndrome · DeLLphi-301, n=187 | 55% | 1.6% |
Rates from the label or pivotal trial as recorded on the product page; each grade 3+ figure links to its source.
Add these to your appointment list, or take the full question set for this cancer.