Abstract:
Background. Lung cancer exhibits high global incidence and mortality rates. Surgical resection remains crucial to
diagnosis, staging, and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, advanced stages often require multimodal
approaches. Prehabilitation, innovative perioperative techniques, and the exploration of immunotherapy hold promise for
improving outcomes.
Materials and methods. This two-phase observational cohort study included a retrospective arm (100 patients,
traditional treatment) and a prospective arm (100 patients, innovative perioperative management, and risk stratification).
Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to evaluate data, identify risk factors, and compare the 2-year survival
between treatment groups.
Results. Despite advances, lung cancer prognosis remains poor, with limited cure rates. Mean survival in the traditional
approach was 1.3 years with a 5-year survival of only 1%. While prehabilitation and innovative techniques showed
potential, no statistically significant differences in survival times were observed between the treatment groups. Patients
with stage III (Charlson score 0-4) and stage I-II (Charlson score 5-12) demonstrated comparable outcomes, highlighting
the importance of comorbidity burden.
Conclusions. Targeted screening protocols are of paramount importance for early detection and intervention. Populationwide smoking cessation programs, environmental protection measures, and the promotion of healthy lifestyles are vital
for prevention and reducing incidence. Standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy offer limited therapeutic benefits in
advanced lung cancer. This highlights a pressing need for breakthroughs in basic research to develop novel treatment
paradigms that significantly improve outcomes. While this study did not reveal statistically significant survival differences
between traditional and innovative perioperative approaches, prehabilitation and optimization techniques hold promise
and deserve further research. The development of anti-tumor immunotherapy offers a significant potential in non-surgical
lung cancer treatment, especially given the limitations in advanced-stage disease management. Harnessing the immune
system to fight cancer represents a promising new frontier.
