ABSTRACT
Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. Approximately 80% of cases of newly diagnosed lung cancer are of the non-small cell type (NSCLC). Unfortunately, a large percentage of these patients will have inoperable disease on the basis of distant metastases (stage IV) or locally advanced disease (stage IIIB). For the remaining patients with early stage disease (stage I and II), as well as selected patients with locally advanced disease (stage IIIA), complete surgical resection remains the best hope for cure, provided that the operative risk is tolerable.
