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Surgery is rarely used as part of the main treatment for small cell lung cancer (SCLC), as the cancer has usually already spread by the time it is found.
In fewer than 1 out of 20 people with SCLC, the cancer is found as only a single lung tumor, with no spread to lymph nodes or other organs. Surgery may be an option for these early-stage cancers, usually followed by additional treatment (chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy).
If your doctor thinks the lung cancer can be treated with surgery you might need more tests, such as:
Your doctor will want to check if the cancer has already spread to the lymph nodes between the lungs. This is often done before surgery with mediastinoscopy or another technique.
To learn more about these tests, see Tests for Lung Cancer.
There are different types of lung resection, including:
The type of operation your doctor recommends depends on the size and location of the tumor and on how well your lungs are functioning. Doctors often prefer to do a more extensive operation (for example, a lobectomy instead of a segmentectomy) if a person’s lungs are healthy enough, as it may provide a better chance to cure the cancer.
There are primarily 2 ways to do lung surgery: open lung surgery (thoracotomy) or minimally invasive surgery. Minimally invasive surgery includes mainly 2 types: video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS). With any of these surgeries, the goal could be to diagnose (to get more tissue for diagnosis), stage (to look at nearby lymph nodes for possible spread of cancer), and/or treat lung cancer (to remove all known cancer in the lung). They all require general anesthesia, where you are in a deep sleep.
In a thoracotomy, the surgeon makes a large cut between the ribs. Where the cut is depends on which part of the lung needs to be removed. In general, the surgeon will spread the ribs to see the lung and nearby organs inside.
Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) uses smaller incisions and typically has a shorter hospital stay and fewer complications than a thoracotomy. The cure rate after this surgery seems to be the same as with surgery done with a larger incision. But it’s important that the surgeon doing this procedure is experienced, because it requires a great deal of skill.
In this approach, the thoracoscopy is done using a robotic system. The surgeon sits at a control panel in the operating room and moves robotic arms to operate through several small incisions in the patient’s chest.
RATS is similar to VATS in terms of less pain, less blood loss, and shorter recovery time.
For the surgeon, the robotic system may provide more maneuverability and more precision when moving the instruments than standard VATS. Still, the most important factor in the success of either type of thoracoscopic surgery is the surgeon’s experience and skill.
Along with the results of imaging tests (such as CT scans) done before surgery, surgeons also rely on what they can see and feel during the operation to help determine which parts of the lung need to be removed. However, some lung tumors might not be easily seen or felt, so in some situations it’s possible that a tumor (or parts of tumor) might be missed.
Your surgeon might use a special intraoperative imaging system during the surgery to help find tumors that aren’t easily seen or felt. For this approach, a fluorescent drug called pafolacianine (Cytalux) is injected into your blood within 24 hours before your surgery. The drug travels through your body and attaches to a specific protein found on lung cancer cells. Once in the operating room, the imaging system gives off near-infrared light that causes the drug to light up, which can help the surgeon see which areas of the lung need to be removed.
The most common side effects after getting pafolacianine are belly pain, heartburn, itching, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, and flushing. Your doctor will probably ask you to avoid any supplements that have folic acid in them for a few days before the procedure because they might affect how well this drug works.
Surgery for lung cancer is a major operation and can have serious side effects, which is why surgery isn’t a good idea for everyone. While all surgeries carry some risks, they depend to some degree on the extent of the surgery and a person’s overall health.
Possible complications during and soon after surgery can include reactions to anesthesia, excess bleeding, blood clots in the legs or lungs, wound infections, and pneumonia. While it is rare, in some cases people might not survive the surgery.
Recovering from lung cancer surgery typically takes weeks to months. When the surgery is done through a thoracotomy, the surgeon must spread the ribs to get to the lung, so the area near the incision may hurt for some time after surgery. Your activity might be limited for at least a month or two.
If your lungs are in good condition (other than the presence of the cancer) you can usually return to normal activities after some time if a lobe or even an entire lung has been removed. If you also have another lung disease such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis (which are common among people who have smoked for a long time), you might become short of breath with activity after surgery.
When you wake up from surgery, you will have a tube (or tubes) coming out of your chest and attached to a special container to allow excess fluid and air to drain out. The tube(s) will be removed once the fluid drainage and air leak slow down enough. Generally, you will spend about 1 to 7 days in the hospital depending on the type of surgery.
For more general information about surgery as a treatment for cancer, see Cancer Surgery.
To learn about some of the side effects listed here and how to manage them, see Managing Cancer-related Side Effects.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Araujo LH, Horn L, Merritt RE, Shilo K, Xu-Welliver M, Carbone DP. Ch. 69 - Cancer of the Lung: Non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Doroshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier; 2020.
Hann CL, Wu A, Rekhtman N, Rudin CM. Chapter 49: Small cell and Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Lung. In: DeVita VT, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg SA, eds. DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg’s Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2019.
Kim D, Woo W, Shin JI, Lee S. The Uncomfortable Truth: Open Thoracotomy versus Minimally Invasive Surgery in Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Cancers (Basel). 2023 May 5;15(9):2630. doi: 10.3390/cancers15092630. PMID: 37174096; PMCID: PMC10177030.
National Cancer Institute. Physician Data Query (PDQ). Health Professional Version. Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment. 2023. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/types/lung/hp/small-cell-lung-treatment-pdq on Jan 24, 2024.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Small Cell Lung Cancer. V.2.2024. Accessed at https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/sclc.pdf on Jan 24, 2024.
Last Revised: January 29, 2024
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