Restaging after neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy for N2 non-small cell lung cancer

Recent studies have shown that patients who are down-staged via neoadjuvant therapy and undergo resection have a significant increased 5-year survival rate (as high as 40%-50%) when compared with patients who have residual N2 disease. The identification of patients who are N2 negative after the completion of their neoadjuvant therapy is a critical component of proper patient selection for thoracotomy. Some may even argue that it is a necessary step before resection. In this article we review the best ways to restage patients with N2 disease after they have completed their neoadjuvant therapy.