Introduction
lung cancer, cancer death, stage IIIA-N2 NSCLC, tumours
LUNG CANCER, STAGE IV NSCLC, TUMOURS, STAGE II NSCLC
Despite therapeutic advances, lung cancer keeps a leading cause of cancer death worldwideSurgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are the primary modalities of stage III NSCLC treatment. However, molecular characterisation of tumours is essential to detect specific mutations, which is even more relevant in advanced lung cancer stages. For patients with stage IV NSCLC and epidermal growth factor receptor (The EMERGING-CTONG 1103 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01407822) was a multicentre (17 centres in China), open-label, phase II, randomised controlled trial of erlotinib versus gemcitabine combination with cisplatin (GC) as perioperative therapy in patients with stage IIIA-N2 NSCLC and EGFR sensibility mutations.