Current Standards and Ongoing Controversies in the Management of Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Despite the fact that nearly half of all patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) present with stage III disease, this is the treatment setting with the least well-established standards. Generally treated with curative intent, patients with stage III disease usually receive more than one of the three main therapeutic approaches to lung cancer—surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. In addition, the staging system encompasses a remarkably heterogeneous range of tumor burden and location within the rubric of stage III. Consequently, an individualized approach is often invoked to address particular concerns for resectability, toxicity, and patient and physician preferences. For patients with locally advanced NSCLC, therapeutic outcomes have improved overall for this population over the past few decades. While there exists a range of acceptable standard approaches to the treatment of stage III NSCLC, this review will describe several conclusions that have emerged and how they evolved.