INTRODUCTION
toxicity, SCLC, Lung cancer
LUNG CANCER, SCLC, EVENT
Lung cancer regarded as one of the most common causes of cancer‐related mortality.Apatinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that specifically inhibits the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐2 (VEGFR‐2). As a new antiangiogenic drug, apatinib has shown promising clinical efficacy for SCLC patients. Dai et al. used apatinib as the maintenance treatment following the first‐line chemotherapy in SCLC patients, which showed promising efficacy and safety.However, the effect of apatinib plus chemotherapy in SCLC has not yet been defined. Apatinib might represent a new treatment for patients with SCLC, who have fewer options, especially in the event of relapse. In a retrospective analysis, the addition of apatinib to single‐agent chemotherapy showed a modest improvement in efficacy. Therefore, we designed a phase II, prospective, single‐center, single‐arm, clinical trial to study the clinical efficacy and toxicity of apatinib plus chemotherapy in pretreated patients with advanced SCLC.