Cure- or Care-Oriented Regimen for Stage III Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer?

TO THE EDITOR: We read with great interest the article by Yamamoto et al 1 comparing second- and third-generation chemotherapy regimens combined with thoracic irradiation for locally advanced non–small-cell lung cancer. With all due respect to the effort of the authors who conducted the phase III trial, we have to express our opinion against their design and interpretation for the results. Among several points to be criticized in this trial, the most salient is that it is still unclear whether this trial was designed for establishing cure-oriented therapy or care-oriented therapy. Needless to say (but quite important), the stage III diseases, despite their heterogeneity, should be treated for cure rather than care because those with the diseases potentially possess the chance to be cured. Medical oncologists, however, now face the fact that the majority of these patients cannot not be cured with the existing standard chemoradiotherapy. 2 This situation indicates that we should not still satisfy the efficacy