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Vol.59 No.2 contents | Japanese/English |
 | Full Text of PDF (295K) Article in Japanese |
- Invited Review Article -
Current Progress and a New Era in Chemoradiotherapy for Stage III NSCLC
Shuji Murakami11Department of Thoracic Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Japan
To achieve higher simultaneous local and distant control in the treatment of unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), clinical trials consisting of multimodality treatment including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy have been undertaken. As the standard treatment of concurrent chemoradiotherapy has a 5-year survival rate of 20% and relapse at distant sites remains high, a more effective systemic therapy is highly desirable. The development of molecular target therapy has improved the management of advanced NSCLC, but it has not affected the treatment strategy for stage III NSCLC. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have shown durable responses in patients with advanced NSCLC and they have recently emerged as a promising new curative strategy for stage III NSCLC. A recent clinical trial found that consolidation treatment of ICI after chemoradiotherapy prolonged both the progression-free survival and overall survival for stage III NSCLC, which is a remarkable achievement in the treatment of these patients. This article presents the current progress in chemoradiotherapy for stage III NSCLC and the results of clinical trials of ICI after chemoradiotherapy, which has become a new therapeutic option for stage III NSCLC.
key words: Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Chemoradiotherapy, Immune checkpoint inhibitor
JJLC 59 (2): 117-122, 2019
