Abstract
Patients with unresectable lung cancer range from those with early-stage or pre-invasive disease with comorbidities that preclude surgery to those with advanced stage disease in whom surgery is contraindicated. In such cases, a multidisciplinary approach to treatment is warranted, and may involve medical specialties including medical oncology, radiation oncology and interventional pulmonology. In this article we review bronchoscopic approaches to surgically unresectable lung cancer, including photodynamic therapy, brachytherapy, endoscopic ablation techniques and airway stenting. Current and past literature is reviewed to provide an overview of the topic, including a highlight of potential emerging approaches.
Abstract
PDT and EBBT may be effective options for early-stage NSCLC. PDT, EBBT, debulking and stenting may be offered to patients receiving definitive treatment or for palliation. Respiratory failure is not a contraindication to therapeutic bronchoscopy. https://bit.ly/2SmhtEQ
Footnotes
Provenance: Commissioned article, peer reviewed.
Number 3 in the Series “Interventional pulmonology” Edited by David Feller-Kopman and Hervé Dutau
Previous articles in this series: No. 1: DeMaio A, Sterman D. Bronchoscopic intratumoral therapies for nonsmall cell lung cancer. Eur Respir Rev 2020; 29: 200028. No. 2: Chandrika S, Yarmus L. Recent developments in advanced diagnostic bronchoscopy. Eur Respir Rev 2020; 29: 190184.
Conflict of interest: C.M. Kniese has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: A.I. Musani received research support from Concordia for the PDT canine study.
- Received February 4, 2020.
- Accepted April 24, 2020.
- Copyright ©ERS 2020.
This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.