Here is a continuation of the webinar discussion I did with Dr. Pennell a month ago, in which we discussed some of the most interesting presentations on lung cancer at ASCO 2010.

As I mentioned in my last post on the recent results on pre-operative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy, the results of this work failed to achieve statistical significance but did appear to be associated with a degree of benefit comparable to the magnitude of benefit seen with post-operative (adjuvant) chemotherapy, but the neoadjuvant trials were smaller and therefore underpowered.

Post-operative, also known as adjuvant chemotherapy, is the established method for delivering systemic therapy to improve long-term outcomes beyond what surgery alone can deliver. An alternative approach, though, is to give treatment prior to surgery.