# Lung cancer (all types)

Source: https://onco.cc/cancers/lung-cancer/  
OnCo record `lung-cancer` (Cancer). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Lung cancer splits into non-small-cell (about 85 percent) and small-cell (about 15 percent) disease, which behave and are treated very differently. The subtype pages carry the detail; this page covers screening, staging and what the types share.

## Summary

Lung cancer is divided by histology into non-small-cell lung cancer, itself split into adenocarcinoma, squamous and large-cell carcinoma, and small-cell lung cancer, a fast-growing neuroendocrine tumour almost always linked to smoking. Non-small-cell disease has more than a dozen targetable driver mutations and is treated with surgery, radiotherapy, targeted drugs and immunotherapy by stage and biology; small-cell disease is treated with chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy and relapses quickly. Low-dose CT screening of heavy smokers cuts lung cancer deaths by about a fifth, and tobacco control remains the largest lever. Mesothelioma and thymic tumours are separate thoracic cancers.

## Fields

- Kind: Cancer
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Also known as: Bronchogenic carcinoma; Lung carcinoma
- Tags: parent-page
- Group: thoracic
- Burden: The leading cause of cancer death worldwide, with about 2.5 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths a year; most cases are caused by smoking, and survival depends heavily on the stage at diagnosis.
- Subtypes: Non-small-cell lung cancer (adenocarcinoma, squamous, large cell); Small-cell lung cancer; Carcinoid and other neuroendocrine tumours of the lung; Pleuropulmonary blastoma (childhood)
- Biomarkers: EGFR, ALK, ROS1, KRAS G12C, BRAF V600E, MET exon 14, RET, NTRK, HER2 mutations (non-small-cell); PD-L1 expression; Stage by TNM and PET-CT; Circulating tumour DNA for minimal residual disease

## Standard of care

- Screening: Annual low-dose CT for people aged about 50 to 80 with a heavy smoking history (NLST, NELSON). ([NLST & NELSON (low-dose CT screening)](https://onco.cc/trials/nlst-nelson/))
- Diagnosis and staging: CT, PET-CT, bronchoscopy or CT-guided biopsy, endobronchial ultrasound of nodes, brain MRI; molecular testing on every non-squamous non-small-cell tumour. ([Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [PET (positron emission tomography)](https://onco.cc/technologies/pet/))
- Treatment: By type and stage on the subtype pages: surgery or stereotactic radiotherapy for early disease, chemoradiation with immunotherapy for locally advanced, targeted or immune therapy for metastatic disease. ([Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/sclc/), [SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy)](https://onco.cc/technologies/sbrt/))

## State of the art

- Immunotherapy and targeted drugs have doubled or tripled survival in metastatic non-small-cell disease over a decade.
- CT screening is now recommended in the US, UK and much of Europe but uptake is low.
- Small-cell lung cancer has gained immunotherapy and the DLL3 T-cell engager tarlatamab after decades without progress.

## Open problems

- Most patients still present with advanced disease.
- Resistance to every targeted drug emerges within one to three years.
- Screening reaches a small fraction of those eligible.
- Small-cell lung cancer survival remains under a year for most with extensive disease.

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_cancer
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_cancer
- NCI PDQ: https://www.cancer.gov/types/lung

## Connected records

- drugs: [Gefitinib](https://onco.cc/drugs/gefitinib/), [Nivolumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/nivolumab/), [Tarlatamab](https://onco.cc/drugs/tarlatamab/)
- trials: [NLST & NELSON (low-dose CT screening)](https://onco.cc/trials/nlst-nelson/)
- cancers: [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/sclc/)
- technologies: [PET (positron emission tomography)](https://onco.cc/technologies/pet/), [SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy)](https://onco.cc/technologies/sbrt/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/lung-cancer.json