Multimodal treatment with surgical resection for stage IIIB non-small-cell lung cancer.

摘要

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the US, and many patients present with advanced disease. It is estimated that about one-third of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) present with locally advanced stage III disease, and among these about half of them have stage IIIB disease. However, patients with stage IIIB disease form a very heterogeneous group of patients, consisting of individuals with T4 lesions and/or N3 disease in the absence of distant metastases. These patients are typically treated with definitive chemoradiation only, without surgical resection. Survival in patients with stage IIIB disease has been poor, with an estimated 5-year overall survival of 5%/ and it is clear that we need to investigate new multimodal treatment strategies to improve outcomes in this group of patients.