This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar content in this book Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hann, C. L. Articles by Ettinger, D. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Hann, C. L. Articles by Ettinger, D. S.

The Change in Pattern and Pathology of Small Cell Lung Cancer

From the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD

Authors’ disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.

Address reprint requests to Christine L. Hann, MD, PhD, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, 1550 Orleans Street, CRB 2, Room 553, Baltimore, MD 21231; e-mail: chann1{at}jhmi.edu

Overview: In their study, Govindan et al. reported a decreased incidence of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), among all lung cancer histologies, from 17.26% in 1986 to 12.95% in 2002.¹ In fact, the prevalence of SCLC among all lung cancers was as high as 25% before 1986. What are the reasons for this shift? The primary cause may be changes in smoking habits, in terms of both prevalence and cigarette type. Adding to this may be the changing classification and subclassification of SCLC by the World Health Organization (WHO) during the past 4 decades.² Here we review the history of the pathologic diagnosis of SCLC from its earliest identification by Barnard in 1926³ and discuss the changes in SCLC classification by the WHO from 1967 through 2004.