Neoadjuvant Nivolumab plus Chemotherapy in Lung Cancer

To the Editor: In the CheckMate 816 trial, Forde and colleagues (May 26 issue)(1) concluded that neoadjuvant treatment with nivolumab did not impede the feasibility of surgery, which is the curative treatment for lung cancer. However, in the experimental group (in which patients received nivolumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy), surgery was canceled in 15.6% of the patients, owing mostly to disease progression after treatment. This result is worrisome because these patients could have been treated with up-front surgery and be cured of disease, had neoadjuvant therapy not been undertaken. More than one third of the enrolled patients were withdrawn from the . . .

Automated summary

This article reports that neoadjuvant treatment with nivolumab does not impede the feasibility of lung cancer surgery, but some patients had their surgeries canceled due to disease progression after treatment, which is concerning as they could have been cured through surgery.