Navigating into a stormy sea: liquid biopsy enters peri-operative management in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer

Early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (ES-NSCLC) represents ∼20%-25% of the lung cancer patients at diagnosis and, until recently, was associated with a high risk of recurrence after surgery, with >50% of the patients with stage II-III deceasing within 5 years from curative-intent resection.1 Platinum-based chemotherapy, either before or after surgery, has been the mainstay of treatment for these patients with a small, but clinically significant survival benefit of ∼5% at 5 years.2,3 Over the past few years the therapeutic landscape of ES-NSCLC has been revolutionized with the introduction of targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors with unprecedented results in the (neo)adjuvant setting.