Multimodality curative-intent treatment in NSCLC: an unprecedented era of change 2017–2025

Curative-intent multimodality treatment-combining local treatments such as surgery or radiotherapy with systemic therapy-is the cornerstone of care in stage II-III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Since 2017, the systemic therapy backbones with multimodality treatment have undergone a dramatic transformation, driven by a series of pivotal, practice-changing clinical trials. Immunotherapy and targeted therapies, previously confined to the advanced/metastatic setting, are now firmly embedded in curative-intent regimens. Maintenance immunotherapy following chemoradiation in unresectable stage III disease, adjuvant tyrosine kinase inhibitors in resected epidermal growth factor receptor/anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive tumours, neoadjuvant and perioperative chemoimmunotherapy in resectable stage II/III NSCLC and adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy following resection have all become new standards of care.This state-of-the-art review synthesises the key evidence underpinning these developments, highlights their clinical implications and identifies challenges to implementation-particularly the need for redefined clinical pathways, accurate pretreatment staging, timely biomarker testing and coordinated multidisciplinary decision-making. A novel treatment algorithm is proposed to support clinicians in navigating these complex treatment choices.We conclude that immunotherapy and targeted agents have irrevocably altered curative-intent NSCLC care, establishing multiple new standards that sometimes overlap and compete. In the surgical multimodality treatment pathway, neoadjuvant and perioperative chemoimmunotherapy offers the opportunity to increase the uptake of systemic therapy in comparison to adjuvant therapy and is considered by these authors to represent the optimal treatment path for most patients.In this unprecedented era of therapeutic expansion, the greatest challenge is no longer the absence of effective treatments, but the complexity of selecting, sequencing and delivering them, as well as patient optimisation. Lung cancer services must evolve through proactive pathway redesign, integrated diagnostics and new models of multidisciplinary care. High-quality, biomarker-driven and patient-centred care is now achievable for many patients with stage II-III NSCLC-but it will require system-level adaptation to deliver it.