The aim of this study was to evaluate somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) in the staging of patients with small cell lung cancer. Prior to chemotherapy, 20 patients were investigated up to 24 h following an injection of 200 MBq 111In-octreotide. Following chemotherapy and restaging, four patients were re-evaluated. Primary tumour was detected in 18 of 23 studies, which exhibited increasing target-to-back-ground ratios over time. Lymph node metastases and distant metastases were detected in 7 of 27 and 8 of 31 sites, respectively. Thus, the overall sensitivity for detecting metastases was less than 26%. SRS did not result in any upstaging of patients. We conclude that in patients with small cell lung cancer, functional imaging by SRS has no impact on clinical decision making.