However, small cell lung cancer is still very difficult to treat. Small cell is the most aggressive of lung cancers, and many patients have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Small cell lung cancer is responsive to both chemotherapy and radiation, yet nearly all these patients eventually relapse and need additional treatment. There is a clear need for more effective treatments for lung cancer. There are constant new advances in molecular medicine, which have recently led to new drugs that can protect normal cells from being destroyed from chemotherapy.
Early detection remains the key to successful therapy.
If you have a history of chronic coughing, coughing up blood, chest pain or fever you should have an evaluation by your physician as soon as possible. Lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Lung cancer has always been and continues to be more common in men than women but the difference is declining. Unfortunately statistics show that smoking rates among women are expected to surpass those among men by the year 2000. Lung cancer is not the only smoking related cause of death in women.