[Early-stage NSCLC. Resectable non-small cell lung cancers: (neo) adjuvant chemotherapy]

The therapeutic approach of resectable non small cell lung cancer has evolved during the last decade. The addition of cisplatin-based chemotherapy, given either before or after surgery, led to a significant increase in overall survival. This effect is essentially pronounced in stage II-III diseases. The role of chemotherapy for stage I, particularly stage IA, remains undetermined. A lot of questions have to be resolved like determining the optimal timing for chemotherapy administration (induction or adjuvant) or the better combined regimen. In the future, therapeutic decisions will probably be influenced by the use of biomarkers predicting the response or the resistance to cytotoxic drugs, allowing to better selecting the patients most susceptible to benefit from (neo) adjuvant chemotherapy.