Shifting the paradigm for maintenance therapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

The standard of care in metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is to treat patients with a platinum doublet for 4 to 6 cycles and to offer second-line therapy upon progression. Maintenance therapy in NSCLC is defined as a therapeutic agent which is administered after first-line chemotherapy is complete, but before the disease progresses. While maintenance therapy is not yet universally accepted as a therapeutic approach, emerging data have demonstrated its potential to improve progression-free survival and overall survival in a clinically significant way. In this article a concise recent review of data related to the role of maintenance therapy in patients with advanced NSCLC is provided, complementing previous information in the field. It is recommended that NSCLC patients are offered maintenance therapy after first-line therapy is complete.