Systemic chemotherapy for patients with advanced-stage nonsmall-
cell lung cancer prolongs survival and palliates symptoms,
when compared with the best supportive care alone.
However, the results of standard cytotoxic regimens are not
yet satisfactory. As the effectiveness in the treatment of refractory
disease is low, it still remains critical to better understand
and develop new treatment options for refractory disease.
Within the second-line therapeutic approaches, there are new
chemotherapeutic schemes as well as molecular-targeted treatment
options that block the epidermal growth factor receptor
or angiogenesis. Future research efforts should focus on identifying
prognostic and predictive markers of benefit not only
for the standard cytotoxic agents, but also for the new targetdriven
agents currently.
Keywords: Non-small-cell lung cancer; systemic chemotherapy; new generation agents
