Treatment options in stage III non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is responsible for over 1 million deaths annually, worldwide. The disease becomes symptomatic in advanced stages, so the diagnosis is delayed and 90% of cases cannot benefit from a curative treatment. In NSCLC surgical resection represents the best option for long term survival in resectable stage III and in clinical stage I/II. Patients with stage IIIB or IV usually receive chemotherapy or palliative treatment. For patients with no driver mutation detected platinum based combination chemotherapy is the first choice. Definitive radiotherapy is considered an lternative for patients who are not candidates for combined modality treatment. When a stage IV cancer is diagnosed based on an isolated metastasis, the patient’s benefit from the removal of the etastasis and of the primary tumor if it is resectable. The prognosis in NSLC is mainly influenced by the TNM stage at diagnosis. The rate of survival decreases in opposing correlation with the stage of the cancer. Poor performance status, reduced lung capacity, weight loss, vascular invasion are indicators for a poor prognosis