The potential role of surgery after induction treatment

Induction treatment is the initial therapy that is administered before any locoregional procedure. In this article, the history of preoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy followed by induction chemoradiotherapy, in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancers (stages III A and B) is discussed, as well as the selection of an optimal subset of patients for induction strategies. In addition, the prognostic effects of response to treatment and/or surgical resection as recently reported in published clinical trials are analyzed. Finally, we conclude that mediastinal nodal downstaging after induction therapy significantly improves the survival of patients who are surgically resected after induction.