Expert consensus on perioperative treatment for non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 85% of all newly diagnosed lung cancer cases. Among patients with NSCLC, about 20% are diagnosed with stage I and II, and 30% with stage III diseases (1). In recent years, the popularity of low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for thoracic disease has resulted in a higher proportion of early-stage NSCLC cases being diagnosed. The mainstay of treatment for stages I–IIIA NSCLC is radical surgery coupled with neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy in the appropriate setting (2). In patients with completely resected NSCLC, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy has been associated with better overall survival (OS) in patients with early-stage disease. However, even for the patients with stage I NSCLC, the 5-year lung cancer-specific mortality rate after radical resection has remained unsatisfactory (3).