Dr. Donington on the Role of Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy in Stage II NSCLC

Jessica Donington, MD, MSCR, professor of surgery and chief of the Section of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the role of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in patients with stage II non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Trials evaluating neoadjuvant immunotherapy in NSCLC included patients with stage II and stage III disease, says Donington. However, its role in patients with stage II disease is unclear.

It is not standard of care to give patients with stage II disease neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgical resection, explains Donington. Instead, these patients typically undergo resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.

Until the field has long-term data with neoadjuvant immunotherapy, patients with stage II disease should continue to undergo up-front surgical resection, concludes Donington.