The Oncology Forum: Experts Address Questions About Oncology Referrals in Later-Stage NSCLC

Sanjay Juneja, MD, partnered with Formedics to host the Oncology Forum during the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, kicking off the robust discussion with the lung cancer panel.

The expert panel featured Stephen Liu, MD, of Georgetown University, Millie Das, MD, of Stanford University, and Eric Singhi, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Juneja continued the Q&A portion of the discussion with the question, ‘Why should patients with both stage II and stage III resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) be referred to a medical oncologist before and after surgery?’

“We have multiple FDA approvals now in the perioperative space,” Dr. Das explained. “In the neoadjuvant and adjuvant setting for patients, every stage II and III patient should be discussed ideally in a multidisciplinary setting. Not all institutions have that, but the surgeons who are referred to these patients, sometimes after biopsy, should get on the phone with their medical oncologist and discuss the case however they can. I think it’s really important that this be reviewed in some way, and the medical oncologists should have some input.”

Dr. Liu provided further insight on the topic and explained that he would argue that even a patient diagnosed with stage I NSCLC should see a medical oncologist.

“In lung cancer, we don’t cure as many people as we think, so I think preparing for recurrence is something we want to do early, and I’d rather be overprepared than underprepared,” Dr. Liu concluded. “Often, if someone has stage IA, while we might not recommend systemic therapy, we may recommend some differences in monitoring the EGFR [mutation]. I think we can play a role and help those patients earlier on. I think everyone with cancer should have an oncologist.”