Current Treatment Strategies for NSCLC with Comorbid IP

“

Most of the previous reports on NSCLC with comorbid IP have been in the Japanese population. One possible reason is that respiratory physicians in Japan often diagnose and treat both NSCLC and IP. This may also be due to the fact that the incidence of EGFR-TKI-induced interstitial lung disease and acute exacerbation of IPF tends to be higher in Japanese and East Asians, and there is more interest in these topics. However, as for ICI, the incidence of pneumonitis has been reported to be as high in the Caucasian population as in Japanese or Asian patients. Recently, case series of ICI administered for NSCLC with IP have been published from France, and worldwide interest is gradually increasing, especially in Europe. The current situation, in which the coronavirus infection 2019 (COVID-19) is still raging around the world, creates new challenges in differentiating acute exacerbations of IP- and drug-induced pneumonitis from COVID-19-related pneumonia. Accurate and rig-orous evaluation of pre-existing IP will lead to more appropriate provision of safe and ef-fective treatment to patients with NSCLC. We hope that the topic of “NSCLC with comor-bid IP” will attract interest not only from Japan but also from all over the world, and that more data will be accumulated.

”