Lung Cancer: Symptoms, Treatment, and Early Diagnosis

Dear Colleagues,

Thoracic oncology represents one of the fields of greatest interest and innovation in oncology. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of death due to cancer in Western countries. The high lethality rate is due to the fact that, in most cases, the diagnosis is obtained when the disease is advanced and inoperable.

Lung cancer is strongly related to environmental exposure and cigarette smoking is its primary cause, which has important implications for the field of public health since prevention and early diagnosis campaigns can clearly change the natural history of this pathology. 

Recently, four important innovations have emerged in the field of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. The first is the validation of the critical role that low-radiation-dose CT screening plays in high-risk subjects, which allows us to change the stage of diagnosis in an incisive way with repercussions for the possibility of curative treatments. The second consists of technological innovations that have allowed us to achieve important goals in molecular diagnosis, circulating and volatile markers with implications for screening, noninvasive diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of early recurrence, and response to therapy. The third consists of the technological progress and evolution of micromechanics that have allowed us to introduce and diffuse robotic surgical tools, which allow us to perform high-quality, minimally invasive treatments in complex and locally advanced disease, with the centering of patients’ quality of life and body integrity. The fourth consists of our improved knowledge and the new applications of immunotherapy and precision treatments, which represent game changers in systemic therapies for both advanced and localized tumors. 

I invite you to submit to this Special Issue an original research paper or a review article on one or more of these four important topics. 

Prof. Giulia Veronesi
Guest Editor

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