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Surgical Management of Stage IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

  • Pulmonary Radiology (M Stephens and S Kapur, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

There remains equipoise regarding the optimal treatment approach for patients with stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this review is to examine the role of surgery as a modality in the management of stage IIIA NSCLC.

Recent Findings

Over the last two decades, several studies including randomized controlled trials have established the importance of multimodality therapies in the management of locally advanced NSCLC.

Summary

Significant disparities exist in the reported advantages of surgery between observational and randomized controlled studies of stage IIIA patients. While some of these differences are likely due to patient selection bias, differences in the study design and treatment-related factors may also contribute to these trends. Preliminary results from studies assessing molecular therapies and immunotherapies in this population indicate a favorable adverse event and clinical response profile. As the therapeutic armamentarium for stage IIIA disease expands, continued evaluation of surgery within multimodality treatment protocols will be increasingly important.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Omar Toubat

  2. Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Omar Toubat & Anthony W. Kim

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  1. Omar Toubat
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Correspondence to Anthony W. Kim.

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Omar Toubat and Anthony W. Kim declare no conflict of interest. Anthony W. Kim reports personal fees, non-financial support, and other from Roche-Genentech outside the submitted work.

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Plot showing the correlation between the difference in median overall survival (OS) between C/RT + S and C/RT patients (ΔOS) and the year of publication. (PNG 1375 kb)

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Toubat, O., Kim, A.W. Surgical Management of Stage IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer. Curr Pulmonol Rep 9, 151–163 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13665-020-00259-7

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