Advances and Challenges of Local Thermal Ablation in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common pathological type of primary lung cancer. Currently, main treatment approaches for NSCLC patients include surgical resection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and so on. In recent years, thermal ablation has received increasing attention in the treatment of various stages of NSCLC. As a safe and efficient local treatment, thermal ablation may bring potential clinical benefits to NSCLC patients. However, many issues remain unsolved and further investigation is needed in the clinical application of thermal ablation in NSCLC. In this review, we aim to summarize the applications of thermal ablation in NSCLC and further discuss the emerging controversies as well as future research directions.