Cancer that started in the lungs (primary lung cancer). There are several different types of primary lung cancer. These are divided into two main types called small cell lung cancer and non small cell lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer accounts for about 12 out of every 100 lung cancers (12%).here are three common types of non small cell lung cancer. These are grouped together because they behave in a similar way and respond to treatment in a different way to small cell lung cancer. They make up about 87 out of 100 lung cancers in the UK (87%).