Initiating the Era of “Precision” Lung Cancer Surgery

Surgical resection for lung cancer dates to the early 20th century. Evarts Graham is credited with performing the first successful pneumonectomy in 1933 for what was then an uncommon disease. During the next 25 years, surgeons focused on improving outcomes through better resection techniques. In 1962, retrospective data suggested that lobectomy for early-stage non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) yielded a 5-year overall survival similar to that reported after pneumonectomy,1 and lobectomy gradually became the more commonly performed operation. By the 1980s, advances in imaging (e.g., computed tomography [CT]), staging by means of mediastinoscopy, and routine intraoperative lymphadenectomy enabled the identification of . . .