Is combined chemotherapy with cisplatin, etoposide and irinotecan the new standard treatment for patients with sensitive relapsed small cell lung cancer?

Treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) remains a significant challenge for the oncologists. Attempts to improve the results of first- and second-line treatment have all failed so far and no real progress has been made in last years, emphasizing the need for novel strategies of treatment. Patients with relapsed SCLC are usually classified into different categories, according to the time elapsed from the end of previous treatment: sensitive, if tumor progression is documented at least 3 months after the completion of initial treatment, or resistant if tumor progression occurs within 3 months. In sensitive patients, the same platinum-based treatment used as first-line can be re-administered, although there are no randomized trials definitely demonstrating the efficacy of this rechallenge strategy (1).