# Limited-stage vs extensive-stage (small-cell lung cancer)

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/limited-extensive-stage/  
OnCo record `limited-extensive-stage` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Small-cell lung cancer uses a two-way split instead of the usual four stages: limited (confined to one side of the chest and treatable within one radiation field, about a third of patients) or extensive (everything else).

## Summary

Limited-stage disease receives concurrent platinum-etoposide and thoracic radiotherapy (45 Gy twice daily or 60-70 Gy once daily) with curative intent, now followed by durvalumab consolidation (ADRIATIC), and cures 25-35%; extensive-stage disease receives platinum-etoposide with atezolizumab or durvalumab (IMpower133, CASPIAN), responds in most patients and relapses in most within a year, with tarlatamab now the preferred second-line drug. Prophylactic cranial irradiation or MRI surveillance follows response in both. TNM staging is applied in parallel but the two-stage system still drives treatment.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: limited-stage; limited stage; LS-SCLC; extensive-stage; extensive stage; ES-SCLC; very limited stage; thoracic radiotherapy; consolidative thoracic radiotherapy; limited-vs-extensive-stage

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small-cell_carcinoma
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small-cell_carcinoma

## Connected records

- terms: [Chemoradiation (chemoradiotherapy, CRT)](https://onco.cc/terms/chemoradiation/), [Consolidation therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/consolidation-therapy/)
- technologies: [Prophylactic cranial irradiation vs MRI surveillance](https://onco.cc/technologies/prophylactic-cranial-irradiation/)
- cancers: [Extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/extensive-stage-sclc/), [Limited-stage small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/limited-stage-sclc/), [Small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/sclc/)
- fronts: [Chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/chemotherapy/), [Radiation Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/radiation/)
- drugs: [Adebrelimab](https://onco.cc/drugs/adebrelimab/), [Atezolizumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/atezolizumab/), [Durvalumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/durvalumab/), [Platinum + etoposide (EP / CE)](https://onco.cc/drugs/platinum-etoposide/), [Serplulimab](https://onco.cc/drugs/serplulimab/), [Tarlatamab](https://onco.cc/drugs/tarlatamab/)
- trials: [ADRIATIC](https://onco.cc/trials/adriatic/), [CONVERT](https://onco.cc/trials/convert/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/limited-extensive-stage.json