Introduction — This topic includes links to society and government-sponsored guidelines from selected countries and regions around the world. We will update these links periodically; newer versions of some guidelines may be available on each society's website. Some societies may require users to log in to access their guidelines.
The recommendations in the following guidelines may vary from those that appear in UpToDate topic reviews. Readers who are looking for UpToDate topic reviews should use the UpToDate search box to find the relevant content.
Links to related guidelines are provided separately. (See "Society guideline links: Screening for lung cancer" and "Society guideline links: Hemoptysis".)
International
●Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC): Clinical practice guideline on immunotherapy for the treatment of lung cancer and mesothelioma (2022)
●International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC): Multidisciplinary recommendations for pathologic assessment of lung cancer resection specimens after neoadjuvant therapy (2020)
●IASLC: A consensus report on the definition of synchronous oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer (2019)
●College of American Pathologists (CAP), IASLC, and Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP): Updated molecular testing guideline for the selection of lung cancer patients for treatment with targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (2018)
•CAP, IASLC, and AMP: Molecular testing guideline for selection of lung cancer patients for EGFR and ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (2013)
●IASLC: Atlas of EGFR testing in lung cancer (2017)
●IASLC: Atlas of PD-L1 immunohistochemistry testing in lung cancer (2017)
●IASLC: Atlas of ALK and ROS1 testing in lung cancer, second edition (2016)
Canada
●American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Ontario Health (OH) (Cancer Care Ontario [CCO]): Joint guideline on therapy for stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer with driver alterations, update (2022)
●ASCO and OH (CCO): Joint guideline on therapy for stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer without driver alterations, update (2022)
●CCO: Endorsement of the 2019 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the 2018 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) guidance – Recommendations for the treatment of patients with clinical stage III non-small cell lung cancer (2020)
●CCO: Endorsement of the 2019 NICE guidance – Recommendations for prophylactic cranial irradiation and consolidative radiation for patients with small cell lung cancer (2019)
●CCO: Referral of suspected lung cancer by family physicians and other primary care providers (2019)
●CCO: Invasive mediastinal staging of non-small cell lung cancer (2018)
●CCO: The role of high dose rate brachytherapy in the palliation of symptoms in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (2018)
●ASCO/CCO: Clinical practice guideline on adjuvant systemic therapy and adjuvant radiation therapy for stage I to IIIA completely resected non-small-cell lung cancers, update (2017)
●CCO: Initial management of small cell lung cancer (limited and extensive stage) and the role of thoracic radiotherapy and first-line chemotherapy (2017)
●CCO: Focal tumour ablation 4 – Early-stage primary lung cancer and lung metastases (2016)
●CCO: Radiotherapy with curative intent in patients with early stage, medically inoperable, non-small cell lung cancer (2016)
●CCO: Systemic treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (2016)
●CCO: The use of systemic treatment in the maintenance of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (2015)
●CCO: Follow-up and surveillance of curatively treated lung cancer patients (2014)
●CCO: Lung cancer imaging guidelines – Integration with the lung cancer diagnosis and staging clinical pathway (2014)
●CCO: Use of the epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors gefitinib (Iressa), erlotinib (Tarceva), afatinib, dacomitinib, or icotinib in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer – A clinical practice guideline (2014)
●CCO: Chemotherapy for relapsed small cell lung cancer (2013)
●CCO: 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer (2012)
●CCO: Positron emission tomography in radiation treatment planning for lung cancer (2010)
●CCO: PET imaging in small cell lung cancer (2009)
United States
●National Cancer Institute (NCI): Lung cancer – Health professional version (2023)
●American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO): Guideline on adjuvant systemic therapy and adjuvant radiation therapy for stage I-IIIA completely resected non-small-cell lung cancer, rapid recommendation update (2022)
•ASCO/CCO: Clinical practice guideline on adjuvant systemic therapy and adjuvant radiation therapy for stage I to IIIA completely resected non-small-cell lung cancers, update (2017)
●ASCO and Ontario Health (OH) (Cancer Care Ontario [CCO]): Joint guideline on therapy for stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer with driver alterations, update (2022)
●ASCO and OH (CCO): Joint guideline on therapy for stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer without driver alterations, update (2022)
●American Radium Society (ARS): Appropriate use criteria on radiation therapy for extensive-stage SCLC (2021)
●ARS: Appropriate use criteria on radiation therapy for limited-stage SCLC, 2020 (published 2021)
●American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO): Endorsement of an American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) guideline on radiation therapy for small-cell lung cancer (2021)
●ASTRO: Clinical practice guideline on radiation therapy for small cell lung cancer (2020)
●ASCO: Guideline on lung cancer surveillance after definitive curative-intent therapy (2019)
●American College of Radiology (ACR): ACR Appropriateness Criteria on noninvasive clinical staging of primary lung cancer (2018)
●ASTRO: Evidence-based guideline on palliative thoracic radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer, update (2018)
•ASTRO: Evidence-based clinical practice guideline on palliative thoracic radiotherapy in lung cancer (2011)
●ASCO: Endorsement of the College of American Pathologists (CAP)/International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)/Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) clinical practice guideline update on molecular testing guideline for the selection of patients with lung cancer for treatment with targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (2018)
●CAP, IASLC, and AMP: Updated molecular testing guideline for the selection of lung cancer patients for treatment with targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (2018)
•CAP, IASLC, and AMP: Molecular testing guideline for selection of lung cancer patients for EGFR and ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (2013)
●American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST): Guideline and expert panel report on symptomatic treatment of cough among adult patients with lung cancer (2017)
●ASTRO: Evidence-based clinical practice guideline on definitive and adjuvant radiotherapy in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (2015, reaffirmed 2017)
●ASTRO: Evidence-based guideline on stereotactic body radiation therapy for early stage non-small cell lung cancer (2017)
●ASCO: Endorsement of the ASTRO evidence-based guideline on stereotactic body radiotherapy for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (2017)
●American Thoracic Society (ATS): Official policy statement for evaluating molecular biomarkers for the early detection of lung cancer – When is a biomarker ready for clinical use? (2017)
●American Brachytherapy Society (ABS): Consensus guidelines for thoracic brachytherapy for lung cancer (2016)
●ASCO: Endorsement of the ASTRO evidence-based clinical practice guideline on definitive and adjuvant radiotherapy in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (2015)
●ASCO: Endorsement of the CHEST guideline for treatment of small-cell lung cancer (2015)
●ATS/European Respiratory Society (ERS): Official statement on the role of the pulmonologist in the diagnosis and management of lung cancer (2013)
●CHEST: Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of lung cancer, 3rd edition (2013)
●CHEST and Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS): Consensus statement for evaluation and management for high-risk patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (2012)
Europe
●European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO): Non-oncogene-addicted metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer – Clinical practice guideline for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up (2023)
●ESMO: Oncogene-addicted metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer – Clinical practice guideline for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up (2023)
●European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO)-Advisory Committee for Radiation Oncology Practice (ACROP): Guideline for recommendations on implementation of breath-hold techniques in radiotherapy (2023)
●European Respiratory Society (ERS): Guideline on various aspects of quality in lung cancer care (2022)
●ESMO: Expert consensus statements on the management of EGFR mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (2022)
●ESMO: Early and locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer – Clinical practice guidelines focusing on diagnosis, staging, and systemic and local therapy, update (2021)
•ESMO: Early and locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment recommendations, update (2020)
•ESMO: Early and locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) – Clinical practice guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up (2017)
●ESMO: Small-cell lung cancer – Clinical practice guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up (2021)
●Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE): Standards of practice on thermal ablation of primary and secondary lung tumours (2020)
●European Cancer Organisation Essential Requirements for Quality Cancer Care (ERQCC): Lung cancer (2020)
●ESTRO and ACROP: Guidelines for target volume definition in the thoracic radiation treatment of small cell lung cancer (2020)
●ESTRO and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC): Consensus recommendation on the characterisation and classification of oligometastatic disease (2020)
●ERS: Statement on harmonised standards for lung cancer registration and lung cancer services in Europe (2018)
●ESTRO and ACROP: Guidelines for target volume definition in the treatment of locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (2018)
●EORTC: Recommendations for planning and delivery of high-dose, high precision radiotherapy for lung cancer (2017)
●ESTRO-ACROP: Consensus guideline on implementation and practice of stereotactic body radiotherapy for peripherally located early stage non-small cell lung cancer (2017)
●ESMO: Second Consensus Conference in Lung Cancer – Locally advanced stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (2015)
●European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE), ERS, and European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS): Guideline on combined endobronchial and oesophageal endosonography for the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer (2015)
●ESMO: Second Consensus Conference on Lung Cancer – Early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer consensus on diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up (2014)
●ESMO: Second Consensus Conference on Lung Cancer – Non-small-cell lung cancer first-line/second and further lines in advanced disease (2014)
●ESMO: Second Consensus Conference on Lung Cancer – Pathology and molecular biomarkers for non-small-cell lung cancer (2014)
●ESTS: Revised guidelines for preoperative mediastinal lymph node staging for non-small-cell lung cancer (2014)
●American Thoracic Society (ATS)/ERS: Official statement on the role of the pulmonologist in the diagnosis and management of lung cancer (2013)
●ESMO: First Consensus Conference in Lung Cancer; Lugano 2010 – Metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer: Consensus on pathology and molecular tests, first-line, second-line, and third-line therapy (2011)
●ESMO: First Consensus Conference in Lung Cancer; Lugano 2010 – Small-cell lung cancer (2011)
●ERS/ESTS: Clinical guidelines on fitness for radical therapy in lung cancer patients (surgery and chemo-radiotherapy) (2009)
United Kingdom
●National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE): Guideline on lung cancer – Diagnosis and management (2019, updated 2023)
●NICE: Quality standard on lung cancer in adults (2012, updated 2019)
●Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN): Management of lung cancer – A national clinical guideline (2014)
India
●Korean Society of Medical Oncology (KSMO)-European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) initiative endorsed by China (CSCO), India (ISMPO), Japan (JSMO), Malaysia (MOS), Singapore (SSO), and Taiwan (TOS): Pan-Asian adapted ESMO clinical practice guidelines for the management of patients with locally-advanced unresectable non-small-cell lung cancer (2020)
Australia–New Zealand
●Cancer Council Australia: Lung cancer guidelines
●Cancer Australia: Investigating symptoms of lung cancer – A guide for health professionals (2020)
●New Zealand Ministry of Health: Lung cancer multidisciplinary meeting toolkit (2014)
Japan
●[In English] Japanese Lung Cancer Society (JLCS): Guidelines for stage IV NSCLC with EGFR mutations (2021)
●[In Japanese] JLCS: Lung cancer practice guidelines including malignant pleural mesothelioma and thymic tumor (2020)
●[In English] Korean Society of Medical Oncology (KSMO)-European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) initiative endorsed by China (CSCO), India (ISMPO), Japan (JSMO), Malaysia (MOS), Singapore (SSO), and Taiwan (TOS): Pan-Asian adapted ESMO clinical practice guidelines for the management of patients with locally-advanced unresectable non-small-cell lung cancer (2020)
●[In English] Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO)-ESMO initiative endorsed by Japan (JSMO), Korea (KSMO), Malaysia (MOS), Singapore (SSO), and Taiwan (TOS): Pan-Asian adapted clinical practice guidelines for the management of patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (2019)
●[In Japanese] Choosing Wisely Japan: CT for lung cancer in smokers – When and when not needed (2016)
