Organ preservation in the management of lung cancer

Organ preservation as protection of the patient's quality of life in the modern approach to oncology, is a primary objective together with local control and survival. This objective can be attained through the optimization of therapeutic procedures and an interdisciplinary approach directed towards the best result of combined modality therapy. There are districts and organs where preservation is already well-established in terms of results to be achieved (breast, gastrointestinal apparatus, head-neck, prostate, bladder, soft tissue sarcoma, eye tumors). For other sites of disease, as carcinomas of the lung, still at present, systematization of a therapeutic program including organ preservation among its objectives to ensure an acceptable quality of life, is necessary. First trends towards this direction, in diseases not treatable with surgery alone, consider combined radiotherapy with or without surgery for better control without increased toxicity. Monitoring of the quality of life together with the already standardized parameters of local control and survival used in the evaluation of results, is desirable in these patients.