Despite many recent advances in treatment, the prognosis of lung cancer patients remains poor, with 5-year survival rates ≤15%. The treatment of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, depending on the stage at the time of diagnosis.
These treatments as well as the disease itself can be extremely burdensome. In a systematic review of the literature, lung cancer patients were found to report on average 14 symptoms throughout the trajectory of illness. Newly diagnosed patients most commonly reported fatigue, dyspnea, pain, and cough, in addition to anxiety and depression. Similarly, the incidence of chronic postthoracotomy pain in patients with early-stage lung cancer ranges from 26% to 67%.
Although the prevalence of postthoracotomy pain decreas...