Society for Translational Medicine consensus on postoperative management of EGFR-mutant lung cancer (2019 edition)

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common and fatal tumor worldwide, with 2.1 million new cases and 1.77 million deaths per year (1). With the wider application of examination approaches and the improvement of health awareness, higher proportions of surgically resectable early and mid-stage lung cancers have been detected. In overall, only 50% of patients have been cured after radical resection. In other cases, however, NSCLC is highly active and recurrence and/or metastasis can easily occur after surgery. In these patients, systemic therapy as a postoperative adjuvant therapy is required to eliminate or reduce residual micro-lesions to lower the risk of recurrence; meanwhile, the patients should be closely monitored to detect early recurrence. EGFR mutation is a major mutation type in lung cancer, and is seen in about 40% of lung cancer cases in Asia (2). Compared with wild types and other mutation types, EGFR-mutant NSCLC has its unique biological properties and drug susceptibilities, and thus requires specific diagnosis and treatment strategies. This expert consensus aims to review the current evidence and provide recommendations on key issues.