Definitive Radiotherapy With or Without Chemotherapy After Planned Neoadjuvant Chemoimmunotherapy in Stages II to III NSCLC: An International Multicenter Retrospective Study 1

This study looked at patients with stages II to III non-small cell lung cancer who were originally planned to have surgery after receiving neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy (treatment given before surgery) but ultimately could not undergo surgery. Instead, these patients ended up receiving definitive doses of radiation therapy (radiation used as the main curative treatment). They found that radiation was generally safe, but 18% developed pneumonitis (lung inflammation), including some severe cases. The 1-year overall survival was 81%, and median progression-free survival was roughly 16 months. Patients who were not able to undergo surgery due to medical conditions rather than tumor progression tended to have better outcomes. This article shows how radiation can be a reasonable curative treatment for patients who cannot undergo surgery in special circumstances.