Lung Cancer

A pilot combining AI screening with structured nodule follow-up found early lung cancer in 1.6% of flagged patients.

Medicaid expansion was linked to improved insurance coverage, earlier diagnosis, and better survival for NSCLC patients, especially in underserved areas.

Genomic testing among Medicare beneficiaries with cancer rose from 6% in 2016 to 16.7% in 2023, though NGS use stayed low, a study found.

Adding thoracic radiotherapy to atezolizumab maintenance tripled serious side effects in small cell lung cancer without improving survival, a trial found.

A new review suggests molecular biomarkers could help gauge lung cancer recurrence risk and guide surveillance, but the evidence is still thin.

In this discussion, Jorge Nieva, M.D., professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, explores how pesticide exposure from otherwise “healthy” diets may help explain the rise of early-onset lung cancer in non-smokers.

The findings add to the evidence that targeted therapies can improve outcomes in early-stage, oncogene-driven lung cancers, say the study's authors.

Lung cancer has seen major advances in targeted therapies and immunotherapy but fewer than half of older adults with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer ever receive systemic treatment.

A newly developed prognostic model may help clinicians better estimate survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and brain metastases treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Insurance status was strongly associated with lung screening, with those having military-related coverage more likely to get screene than others.

Findings may help with the selection problem of which ALK inhibitor to use, as the number of treatments in that category for non-small cell lung cancer has increased.

Treatment advances for HER-2 mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have lagged behind those for other oncogene-driven NSCLC. Positive results for Hernexeos (zongertinib) may change that.

The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of Feb. 27, 2027, for zipalertinib to treat patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations

How old a person appears may offer insight into how long they live after treatment for early-stage lung cancer.

A first-in-human study finds a novel KRAS G12D–targeted protein degrader produces encouraging responses, particularly in previously treated NSCLC.

A large prospective study in China that examined lung cancer risk after a negative baseline screen found that risk persists and can increase over time. Notably, there was no meaningful difference in risk during the first two years after a negative scan, but by year three, the gap became significant and continued to grow.

In patients with newly diagnosed, advanced non-small cell lung cancer, researchers find that a sequential approach of radiation first and treatment with immunotherapy afterward results in a notable increase in overall survival.

A retrospective study found similar survival outcomes whether immunotherapy was started with the first chemotherapy cycle or delayed to later cycles in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.

A nationwide analysis of adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer found that Medicaid expansion was associated with earlier-stage diagnosis, more timely initiation of guideline-concordant treatment and improved five-year survival.

A study published this week found that Black Medicare beneficiaries with early-stage NSCLC remain significantly less likely than White beneficiaries to receive curative treatment, largely because of lower surgery rates.

Blocking the protein P2RX7 in regulatory T cells boosted antibody responses, and this discovery could one day lead to strategies for enhancing existing immunotherapies in non-small lung cancer.

A treatment may improve quality of life through one pathway but worsen it through another, obscuring the treatment's quality of life benefit in the analysis of some clinical trials.

A new economic evaluation finds that pairing extended counseling with a brief course of nicotine replacement therapy offers the best value for health systems integrating smoking cessation into lung cancer screening.

A meta-analysis of more than 20 phase 3 trials found no clear survival differences by sex or age in metastatic NSCLC but reported better outcomes for Asian patients and continued underrepresentation of Black patients.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. in 2026 and is expected to account for an estimated 229,410 new cases.