Managing Lung Cancer with Comorbid Interstitial Pneumonia

• Published in: Internal Medicine Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 163 - 167
• Main Authors: Kiura, Katsuyuki, Maeda, Yoshinobu, Miyahara, Nobuaki, Ichihara, Eiki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine 15.01.2020; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Clinical trials; Comorbidity; Drug therapy; Fibrosis; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Internal medicine; interstitial pneumonia; Lung cancer; Lung diseases; Non-small cell lung carcinoma; Pneumonia; Precision medicine; Radiation therapy; Review; Small cell lung carcinoma; Surgery; lung cancer; interstitial pneumonia
• ISSN: 0918-2918; 1349-7235; 1349-7235
• DOI: 10.2169/internalmedicine.3481-19

Systemic therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has dramatically changed in the latest 15 years. Molecular-targeted therapy has brought about an era of precision medicine, and immune checkpoint inhibitors have brought hope for a cure for advanced NSCLC. In the wake of this remarkable advancement, lung cancer with comorbid interstitial pneumonia (IP) has been completely left behind, as most clinical trials exclude patients with comorbid IP. IP, especially idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), is often accompanied by lung cancer, and acute exacerbation can develop during various cancer therapies, including surgery, radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy. In this review, we focus on the clinical questions concerning pharmacotherapy in cases of advanced lung cancer with comorbid IP and discuss what we can do with the currently available data.