Non-small cell lung cancer: RT out, pembrolizumab in, and vaccine hope or hype

No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. Three articles on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) recently appeared which were of interest and might alter therapy. The first on whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) was presented at the at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress 2016 and simultaneously published online in the Lancet (1). WBRT and dexamethasone have been the standard of care for patients with NSCLC brain metastases. However, the study of 538 randomized patients concludes that WBRT provides "little additional clinically significant benefit" with brain metastases. Notably, all the patients were unsuitable for surgical resection or stereotactic radiotherapy, owing to widespread metastases. However, patients younger than 60 years did seem to have a survival advantage and might represent an exception. The second study presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2016 Congress reports that the addition of pembrolizumab to first-line treatment with pemetrexed and carboplatin significantly improved objective response rate and progression-free survival ..