Systemic therapy of non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is one of the most frequent tumors and non-small cell lung cancer makes up about 80% of all malignant lung tumors. Therapy is stratified according to the clinical and pathological stage and since 2010 the new Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) 7 staging system has been implemented for both small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. Adjuvant therapy has become a standard of care in the early stages after RO resection and in the last few years significant progress has been made in the systemic treatment of lung cancer. Selection of chemotherapeutics is now made according to the histological subtype of lung cancer. Lung cancer of never smokers and of light smokers seems to be a molecularly and prognostically different disease than lung cancer of smokers with a high incidence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in never and light smokers. For patients with EGFR mutated lung cancer targeted therapies have been licensed in the European Union. The article summarizes the current knowledge of treatment for NSCLC and gives recommendations for first line, second line and consolidation therapy strategies.