Dr. Mason on the Role of Surgery in Stage III NSCLC

David P. Mason, MD, chief of thoracic surgery and lung transplantation, Baylor Scott & White Healthcare System, chief of lung transplantation, Baylor University Medical Center, discusses the role of surgery in stage III non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

A number of factors may prevent patients from seeing a surgeon, even though one-third to one-half of patients with lung cancer require a multimodality approach. For example, a lot of patients present with stage III disease in which the role of surgery is not as well defined as it is in earlier stages.

As far as the conversation between a surgeon and a patient, Mason says he first likes to get a sense of the patient’s overall fitness, motivation, and willingness to undergo an intensive procedure in addition to receiving other medical therapy such as chemoradiation. Additionally, patients have to understand the level of risk associated with surgery, Mason adds.