Managing lung cancer in high-risk patients: what to consider.
Lung cancer patients with medical comorbidity are a challenge for care providers. As with other solid tumors, treatment is stage dependent; but a critical difference is the invasive nature of lung resections and the resulting importance of surgical risk stratification for treatment of early stage disease. External beam radiation was considered the only treatment option for early stage disease in non-operative candidates 10-15 years ago. With recent advances in image-guided technologies, robotics, and the resurgence in interest of sublobar resection there are now numerous treatment options which offer excellent local control and reasonable short and long term survival. Extensive work has been done to clarify interventional risk, and accurately describe anticipated outcomes of these varied treatments in the high risk population. The aim of this article is to review recent literature and provide a better understanding of the considerations used in the management of these patients in the current era.
['Sesti|Joanna|J|', 'Donington|Jessica S|JS|']
D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung D017115:Catheter Ablation D006801:Humans D008175:Lung Neoplasms D009367:Neoplasm Staging D011013:Pneumonectomy D011859:Radiography D016896:Treatment Outcome
sublobar resection high risk minimally invasive surgery non-small cell lung cancer radiofrequency ablation stereotactic radiotherapy