ALT Doctor and patient sat at a desk in a hospital. The doctor is holding an x-ray of a patient's lungs and is pointing out an abnormality

ALT Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide, and the majority of patients in the UK present with advanced disease. One-year survival is improving but remains low at 37% despite new treatments which now form the current standard of care for advanced lung cancer. Although these new treatments are very good, some cancer persists in most patients after treatment (termed ‘residual cancer’) and little is known about how best to deal with it. As such, management of residual advanced lung cancer varies across the UK, with some patients receiving only symptom management while others go on to have treatment in the form of surgery, radiotherapy and/or ablation with the aim to remove all remaining cancer within the lung and throughout the body. Collectively, these treatments are known as local consolidative treatment (LCT). LCT is intensive, impacts quality of life, and is expensive but most importantly, it is not known whether it results in a better outcome for patients.