Thoracic Oncologists Disagree on Duration of Immunotherapy for NSCLC

8:08 PM ETDeveloping

Health Desk

In Short: Five thoracic oncologists may give five different answers on whether a patient needs a year of adjuvant immunotherapy after neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy-based strategies have transformed the treatment landscape for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to new reporting from Medscape.

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons' 2025 expert consensus highlights a critical gap in current research: no study has directly compared the efficacy of neoadjuvant-only immunotherapy versus adjuvant immunotherapy.

According to the consensus, treatment-completion rates were significantly higher in neoadjuvant-only trials, ranging from 94% to 100%, compared to 52% to 65% in adjuvant-immunotherapy trials.

What's still developing

Ask five thoracic oncologists whether a patient needs a year of adjuvant immunotherapy after neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy, and you may get five different answers.
It's a design built to answer “does adding immunotherapy help?” — and it has, repeatedly.

Sources

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