Focused issue on diagnosis and management of lung cancer patients
Preface

Focused issue on diagnosis and management of lung cancer patients

We are pleased to announce this focused issue of the Annals of Translational Medicine on “Diagnostic and Therapeutic Advances in the Management of Lung Cancer”.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The last decade has witnessed multiple encouraging advances in the diagnosis and management of patients with lung cancer. The current issue provides focused reviews contributed by experts in the field with up-to-date information on a variety of topics related to management of lung cancer in an open access format.

In this era of lung cancer screening using low-dose computed tomography (CT), a lot more lung nodules are being discovered. In this issue, Khan et al., provide an excellent overview of the diagnosis and management of lung nodules. They discuss the characteristics of lung nodules and the role of imaging and the pretest models for predicating malignancy and provide an algorithmic summary of management of peripheral lung nodules. Another article by Miles et al., from Dr. Islam’s group describes the role of ultrasound in thoracic malignancy. In their succinct review, they emphasize on the importance of point of care ultrasound in the diagnosis of many conditions associated with lung cancers such as pleural effusion, pulmonary edema and thromboembolic disease along with its therapeutic role in pleural and vascular procedures. Comprehensive reviews on the topic of management of carcinoma-in-situ by Dr. Gupta et al. and malignant pleural effusion by Dr. Epelbaum also adorn this issue.

Dr. Murgu’s group from University of Chicago contribute a timely and an excellent state-of-the-art paper about the use the next generation sequencing (NGS) and the immune checkpoint inhibitors and their crucial roles in the management of patients with lung cancers. They also discuss the role of endobronchial ultrasound in PDL-1 testing.

From a surgical standpoint, Dr. Lederman et al. discuss perioperative challenges and post-operative analgesia in patients undergoing resection for lung cancer and Dr. Weigel et al. provide an in-depth review on the topic of management of postoperative air leak. Additionally, this issue also includes the topic of bronchoscopic placement of markers to localize peripheral lung lesions and to guide the minimally invasive robotic and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical resection by Dr. Velasquez et al.

Multiple other topics highlight this issue. Dr. Fanucchi’s team contributes a valuable review on the diagnosis and management of paraneoplastic syndromes related to lung cancer. Dr. Shepherd et al. discuss role of bronchoscopic ablation in the management of endobronchial tumors and Dr. Shojaee writes an interesting article about the management of hemoptysis in patients with lung cancers. Dr. Chandy et al. have aptly examined the infrequently reviewed topic of management of post-obstructive pneumonia in patients with lung cancers.

We are extremely thankful for the valuable contribution of all the experts who have helped to cover a broad spectrum of issues involved in the comprehensive management of lung cancer and help disseminate latest and comprehensive clinical information in the field. We believe that this supplement brings the latest updates and hope that readers find this information helpful in caring for their patients.


Acknowledgments

None.


Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Kassem Harris
Samjot Singh Dhillon

Kassem Harris, MD, FCCP

Interventional Pulmonology Section, Pulmonary Critical Care Division, Department of Medicine, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA.
(Email: kassemharris@gmail.com)

Samjot Singh Dhillon, MD, FCCP

Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Interventional Pulmonary, The Permanente Medical Group, Roseville and Sacramento, CA, USA.
(Email: Samjot@yahoo.com)

doi: 10.21037/atm.2019.07.34

Cite this article as: Harris K, Dhillon SS. Focused issue on diagnosis and management of lung cancer patients. Ann Transl Med 2019;7(15):347. doi: 10.21037/atm.2019.07.34

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