title: Induction therapy before surgery for non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: Surgery alone is currently still accepted as the principal therapy for cure for patients with localized non-small cell lung cancer. The optimal therapy in locally advanced and unresectable stage III disease remains unclear. The limited performance of each single therapeutic strategy (surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy) in the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer accounted for the rationale of the many attempts at improvement by integrating the different approaches. In recent years, to improve clinical outcome, chemotherapy or chemoradiation followed by surgery, and definitive chemoradiation have commonly been used. Despite numerous phase-II trials, little evidence from randomized phase-III trials has been generated. The ongoing randomized trials will probably provide more reliable indications to define the management of the large number of patients with locally advanced disease.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università "La Sapienza", Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferraldeschi
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Auria
authors.forename: Adolfo De Pasquale
authors.initials: Ade P
authors.lastname: Ceratti
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Assalone
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mentuccia
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciprotti
authors.forename: Maria Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Evangelista
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazzoli
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Fonzo
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cortesi
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D017322:Clinical Trials, Phase II as Topic; D017326:Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic