[Neoadjuvant strategies in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer]

The prognosis of patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), other than stage IA disease, remains disappointing, with 5 year survival rates ranging from 40-55%. For the past 15-20 years, several phase II trials have investigated the efficacy of chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy prior to surgery in the management of stage IIIA NSCLC, with encouraging results. Phase III trials comparing surgery alone with chemotherapy plus surgery have confirmed the efficacy of this multimodality approach. Gemcitabine, one of the new agents with significant activity against NSCLC, has undergone extensive clinical testing in combination with cisplatin in this setting. In 47 patients with stage IIIA disease, induction with gemcitabine/cisplatin was well tolerated and yielded a response rate of >70%. Downstaging of the mediastinal lymph nodes occurred in 53% of patients. Preliminary data from another study employing mitomycin C, ifosfamide and cisplatin in resectable NSCLC suggest that there are favourable effects of induction treatment, especially in early-stage disease. With the availability of chemotherapeutic combinations such as gemcitabine/cisplatin, which are both effective and well tolerated, combination therapy is likely to become a major advance in the treatment of patients with early-stage (IB, II) NSCLC.