LUNG-CANCER - DEVELOPMENT, DIAGNOSIS, THE RAPY, PROGNOSIS

Lung cancer is the most frequent cause of death from cancer in men. In addition its prevalence among women is currently rapidly increasing. Main risk factors are smoking, exposure to asbestos and genetic factor s. Current screening methods do not allow early detection and, hence, lung cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. The stage of th e disease affects survival. In non-small cell lung cancer the probabil ity of 5-year survival for patients is about 43 % with stage I, 23 % w ith stage II, 17% with stage III A and 2% with stage III B disease. Su rgery plays a major role in patients with non-small cell lung cancer i n stages I, II and maybe III A. In small cell lung cancer the probabil ity of 5-year survival is about 10% for patients with limited disease and less than 1 % for patients with extended disease. Although surgery plays a role in stage I to stage III A, chemotherapy remains the most important mode of therapy in small cell lung cancer. In stages I to I II A, however, combined treatment modalities might improve outcome of the patients with small cell lung cancer.