Dr. Mansfield Discusses Challenges in SCLC

Aaron S. Mansfield, MD, associate professor of oncology, consultant in the Division of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, discusses challenges in the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Despite recent advances, there are a number of challenges that still exist in developing effective therapies for these patients, Mansfield says. One of them is the lack of tissue to study. Most of the time, patients are diagnosed with SCLC from cytology or from a pleural effusion because they present with advanced, symptomatic disease. These patients are often hospitalized or come through the emergency department, so oncologists don’t have the time to obtain sufficient tissue samples, Mansfield notes.

Moreover, it is very rare for a patient with SCLC to be eligible for surgery, whereas in the non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) space, many patients have resectable disease. There are also tissue repositories for NSCLC tissue samples, allowing researchers to study them more rigorously. As such, NSCLC has had a proliferation of targeted therapies, while SCLC has lagged in that area.