EDITORIAL

Role of surgery in NSCLC

When in doubt should we cut it out? The role of surgery in non-small cell lung cancer

J-E C Holty^1,3, M K Gould^1,2,3

¹ Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, USA
² VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA
³ Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J-E C Holty
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, H3143, Stanford, CA 94305-5236, USA; jholty@stanford.edu

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Will we ever really know whether surgery is effective in patients with resectable NSCLC?

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Keywords: surgery; non-small cell lung cancer

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Despite being a preventable disease, the public health impact of lung cancer is daunting. Lung cancer accounts for more than an estimated one million deaths each year.¹ Unfortunately, most persons with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have unresectable disease at presentation with an overall 5 year survival rate of approximately 15%.^2,3 In contrast, 99% of patients with prostate cancer, 88% of those with breast cancer and 63% of patients with colon cancer are alive at 5 years.³ For early stage NSCLC the preferred treatment is surgical resection, with an estimated 75 000 procedures performed in the US and 3000 in the UK each year.⁴ This preference is supported by favourable 5 year survival rates for patients with potentially resectable tumours (stage IA 67%, stage IB, 57%, stage IIA 55%, stage IIB 39%).⁵ However, up to 30% of patients with stage I and 65% of patients with . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Zhong, W., Yang, X., Bai, J., Yang, J., Manegold, C., Wu, Y. (2008). Complete mediastinal lymphadenectomy: the core component of the multidisciplinary therapy in resectable non-small cell lung cancer.. Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg. 34: 187-195 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gould, M. K., Fletcher, J., Iannettoni, M. D., Lynch, W. R., Midthun, D. E., Naidich, D. P., Ost, D. E. (2007). Evaluation of Patients With Pulmonary Nodules: When Is It Lung Cancer?: ACCP Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines (2nd Edition). Chest 132: 108S-130S [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wright, G. M, Holty, J-E C, Gould, M K (2007). When in doubt should we cut it out? The role of surgery in non-small-cell lung cancer. Thorax 62: 190-191 [Full Text]