Trimodality therapy for non-small-cell lung cancer.

Prospects for the multimodality treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer have improved substantially with the demonstration of fairly dramatic results, in terms of 5-year survival, in several phase III trials that employed neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy prior to surgical resection in patients with locally advanced, resectable disease. Moreover, the combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy has an established role in the treatment of unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer. The history of the development of multimodality therapies will be reviewed and compared with postoperative adjuvant therapy. The role of trimodality therapy in patients with stage IIIB disease is discussed, along with future directions for improving the cure rates of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.