How to Think About Second-Line Therapy in NSCLC

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

It's Mark Kris from Memorial Sloan Kettering. I have been thinking lately about treatments after initial therapy for non–small cell lung cancers, what people often call second-line therapy.

I think the first thought is that, for all the regimens that are available and tested, the results are clearly not as good as seen with first-line therapy. I'll get into some specifics in a second. That being the case, it's really important to make the best choice for first-line therapy.

The second thing that is absolutely critical is to very carefully assess when that first-line therapy has stopped working and whether there is a need for a new systemic therapy. We very often have these situations where there is an oligoprogression, and by treating a single symptomatic lesion, you may get the patient in a very good place and may continue initial therapy. Very often, there is inconsequential growth of the cancer.

For example, if there is a 21% increase in the size of a primary tumor that is not associated with any symptoms in a person who is living their life and is not having any severe side effects, you have to think long and hard about changing that therapy.