Surgery alone offers a reasonable overall level of survival for patients with stage 1 small cell lung cancer, a new study suggests.

Traditional treatment regimens for limited stage SCLS include chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

In this study, researchers analyzed U.S. National Cancer Institute data on the outcomes of 247 patients with stage 1 SCLC who had surgery to remove a lung (lobectomy).

The three- and five-year survival rates for patients who had surgery alone were 58.1 percent and 50.3 percent, respectively. The three- and five-year survival rates for patients who had surgery followed by radiotherapy (RT) were 64.9 percent and 57.1 percent, respectively.