Summary
New treatments like immunotherapy and targeted therapy are improving post-surgery outcomes for lung cancer, with research ongoing to optimize these methods.
The article talks about new treatment options beyond chemotherapy for early stage lung cancer that has been removed with surgery. In the past, chemotherapy after surgery was the standard treatment. But now newer treatments like immunotherapy and targeted therapy given before or after surgery are showing promise to lower the risk of the cancer coming back.
Doctors now have to decide if immunotherapy or targeted drugs aimed at specific gene changes work better before or after surgery. A targeted drug called osimertinib was recently approved for lung cancer patients with changes in the EGFR gene. For other patients without those gene changes, treatment decisions should look at each patient’s specific cancer details. More research is still needed to learn how best to combine and time the new lung cancer drug options with chemotherapy.
Future studies need to find out the optimal treatment length and doses, as well as how to tailor therapy based on each patient’s molecular profile and recurrence risk. The goal is to maximize survival while minimizing side effects from overtreatment.
