Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer — A New Standard of Care

In patients with cancer who undergo surgery with curative intent but who are known to be at risk for a recurrence, postoperative chemotherapy increases the chance of a cure. The basis of this adjuvant therapy rests on demonstrations in animal models that the presence of a small residual tumor rather than a large tumor is associated with a greater fraction of tumor cells that are growing, a greater fractional rate of cell death, a lower likelihood that tumor cells are drug resistant, and a higher cure rate. Subsequent clinical investigations have established proof of these principles for adjuvant chemotherapy in . . .