PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Maurizio Infante AU - Thierry Berghmans AU - Marjolein A. Heuvelmans AU - Gunnar Hillerdal AU - Matthijs Oudkerk TI - Slow-growing lung cancer as an emerging entity: from screening to clinical management AID - 10.1183/09031936.00186212 DP - 2013 Dec 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - 1706--1722 VI - 42 IP - 6 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/6/1706.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/6/1706.full SO - Eur Respir J2013 Dec 01; 42 AB - The current paradigm is that untreated lung cancer is invariably and rapidly fatal, therefore the medical community normally dismisses the idea that a patient could live with such a disease for years without any therapy. Yet evidence from lung cancer screening research and from recent clinical series suggests that, although rarely recognised in routine practice, slow-growing lung cancers do exist and are more common than previously thought. Here, current evidence is reviewed and clinical cases are illustrated to show that slow-growing lung cancer is a real clinical entity, and the reasons why management protocols developed in the screening setting may also be useful in clinical practice are discussed. Features suggesting that a lung cancer may be slow-growing are described and appraised, areas of uncertainty are examined, modern management options for early-stage disease are evaluated and the influence that all this knowledge might have on our clinical decision-making is weighed. Further research directed at developing appropriate guidelines for these peculiar but increasingly common patients is warranted. The increasingly common incidence of slow-growing lung cancer and its influence on clinical decision-making is discussed http://ow.ly/oZ6c2