Editors Choice
Treatment Characteristics and Real-World Progression-Free Survival in Patients With Unresectable Stage III NSCLC Who Received Durvalumab After Chemoradiotherapy: Findings From the PACIFIC-R Study
The phase 3 PACIFIC trial established consolidation therapy with durvalumab as standard of care for patients with unresectable, stage III NSCLC and no disease progression after definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT). The observational PACIFIC-R study assesses the real-world effectiveness of durvalumab in patients from an early access program. Here, we report treatment characteristics and a preplanned analysis of real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS).UNcommon EGFR Mutations: International Case Series on Efficacy of Osimertinib in Real-Life Practice in First-LiNe Setting (UNICORN)
Approximately 10% of EGFR mutations (EGFRmuts) are uncommon (ucEGFRmuts). We aimed to collect real-world data about osimertinib for patients with ucEGFRmuts.EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Sequencing Revisited: From the Revival of Old Tools to the Integration of New Agents
In this issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Piccirillo et al.1 report the results of the BEVERLY trial, a randomized phase 3 study that reveals the progression-free survival (PFS) benefit of bevacizumab to erlotinib as first-line treatment for Italian patients with metastatic NSCLC with common EGFR mutations. In this large study, after a median follow-up of 36.3 months, median investigator-assessed PFS was 15.4 months with erlotinib plus bevacizumab and 9.6 months with erlotinib alone (hazard ratio = 0.66, 95% confidence interval: 0.47–0.92).EURACAN/IASLC Proposals for Updating the Histologic Classification of Pleural Mesothelioma: Towards a More Multidisciplinary Approach
Molecular and immunologic breakthroughs are transforming the management of thoracic cancer, although advances have not been as marked for malignant pleural mesothelioma where pathologic diagnosis has been essentially limited to three histologic subtypes.Definition of Synchronous Oligometastatic Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer—A Consensus Report
Improved outcome has been shown in patients with synchronous oligometastatic (sOM) NSCLC when treated with radical intent. As a uniform definition of sOM NSCLC is lacking, we developed a definition and diagnostic criteria by a consensus process.Advanced-Stage Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer: Advances in Thoracic Oncology 2018
In 2018 research in the field of advanced NSCLCs led to an expanded reach and impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) as part of a frontline treatment strategy, regardless of histologic subtype, with ICI use extended to include stage III disease, shifting the prognosis of all these patients. This new standard first-line approach opens a gap in standard second-line treatment, and older combinations may again become standard of care after progression during treatment with an ICI. The characterization of predictive biomarkers, patient selection, the definition of strategies with ICI combinations upon progression during treatment with ICIs, as well as prospective evaluation of the efficacy of ICIs in subpopulations (such as patients with poor performance status or brain metastases) represent upcoming challenges in advanced thoracic malignancies.A Brief Report of Transformation From NSCLC to SCLC: Molecular and Therapeutic Characteristics
Histologic transformation from NSCLC to SCLC is a mechanism of resistance in EGFR-mutant tumors but is also occasionally observed in nonmutated NSCLC.c-MET Overexpression as a Poor Predictor of MET Amplifications or Exon 14 Mutations in Lung Sarcomatoid Carcinomas
MNNG HOS transforming gene (MET) abnormalities such as amplification and exon 14 mutations may be responsive to targeted therapies. They are prevalent in lung sarcomatoid carcinomas (LSCs) and must be diagnosed as efficiently as possible. Hypothetically, c-MET overexpression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) may prove effective as a screening test for MET abnormalities.The IASLC Lung Cancer Staging Project: Background Data and Proposed Criteria to Distinguish Separate Primary Lung Cancers from Metastatic Foci in Patients with Two Lung Tumors in the Forthcoming Eighth Edition of the TNM Classification for Lung Cancer
It can be difficult to distinguish between a second primary and a metastasis in patients with lung cancer who have more than one pulmonary site of cancer.The IASLC Lung Cancer Staging Project: Background Data and Proposals for the Application of TNM Staging Rules to Lung Cancer Presenting as Multiple Nodules with Ground Glass or Lepidic Features or a Pneumonic Type of Involvement in the Forthcoming Eighth Edition of the TNM Classification
Application of tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) classification is difficult in patients with lung cancer presenting as multiple ground glass nodules or with diffuse pneumonic-type involvement. Clarification of how to do this is needed for the forthcoming eighth edition of TNM classification.The IASLC Lung Cancer Staging Project: Background Data and Proposals for the Classification of Lung Cancer with Separate Tumor Nodules in the Forthcoming Eighth Edition of the TNM Classification for Lung Cancer
Separate tumor nodules with the same histologic appearance occur in the lungs in a small proportion of patients with primary lung cancer. This article addresses how such tumors can be classified to inform the eighth edition of the anatomic classification of lung cancer. Separate tumor nodules should be distinguished from second primary lung cancer, multifocal ground glass/lepidic tumors, and pneumonic-type lung cancer, which are addressed in separate analyses.The IASLC Lung Cancer Staging Project: Summary of Proposals for Revisions of the Classification of Lung Cancers with Multiple Pulmonary Sites of Involvement in the Forthcoming Eighth Edition of the TNM Classification
Patients with lung cancer who harbor multiple pulmonary sites of disease have been challenging to classify; a subcommittee of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee was charged with developing proposals for the eighth edition of the tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) classification to address this issue.The 2015 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Thymus: Continuity and Changes
This overview of the 4th edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) Classification of thymic tumors has two aims. First, to comprehensively list the established and new tumor entities and variants that are described in the new WHO Classification of thymic epithelial tumors, germ cell tumors, lymphomas, dendritic cell and myeloid neoplasms, and soft-tissue tumors of the thymus and mediastinum; second, to highlight major differences in the new WHO Classification that result from the progress that has been made since the 3rd edition in 2004 at immunohistochemical, genetic and conceptual levels.
