Beyond Survival in Thoracic Oncology: Centering Patient Voice, Quality of Life, and Lived Experience

Thoracic malignancies—including lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other thoracic tumors—remain among the leading causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. While therapeutic advances (e.g., immunotherapy, targeted treatments) have improved survival outcomes, these gains are often accompanied by complex physical, psychological, and social burdens that significantly impact patients’ quality of life (QoL). Despite increasing recognition of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), the integration of patient voice, lived experience, and QoL measures into clinical decision-making and trial design remains inconsistent. Traditional endpoints such as overall survival and progression-free survival often fail to capture the full impact of disease and treatment on patients’ daily lives. This research topic seeks to address this gap by centering the patient experience in thoracic oncology, emphasizing the importance of supportive care, symptom burden management, and holistic outcomes across the cancer trajectory—from diagnosis through survivorship or end-of-life care.This special issue will underscore the critical importance of integrating patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into thoracic oncology research, clinical trials, and routine practice, recognizing patient experience as an essential measure of meaningful treatment success. It will advance understanding of the lived experiences of patients and caregivers across the cancer continuum, from diagnosis through survivorship and end-of-life care, while emphasizing supportive care as a fundamental component of thoracic oncology rather than a secondary consideration. By fostering multidisciplinary collaboration and international perspectives, this issue will bring together diverse clinical, scientific, and patient-centered approaches to care, while also addressing issues of equity, access, and disparities that influence supportive care delivery and quality-of-life outcomes. Collectively, this research topic aims to help redefine the future of thoracic oncology by placing the patient voice at the center of research, clinical innovation, and care delivery.This research topic is distinguished by its explicit positioning of patient voice, quality of life, and lived experience as primary outcomes in thoracic oncology, rather than secondary or exploratory endpoints. At a time of rapid therapeutic advancement, this collection seeks to reframe how meaningful outcomes are defined by advancing a more value-based, patient-centered approach to cancer care. By bridging traditional clinical research with the realities of patients’ and caregivers’ lived experiences, it will promote methodological rigor in the measurement and integration of patient-reported outcomes while highlighting supportive care as an essential component of high-quality oncology practice. Through the inclusion of diverse methodologies, multidisciplinary scholarship, and global perspectives, this research topic will generate actionable insights for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers, and serve as an important reference for embedding quality-of-life and supportive care principles across thoracic oncology research and clinical practice.We will invite submissions including (but not limited to):- Patient-reported outcomes in thoracic oncology clinical trials- Symptom burden (e.g., dyspnea, fatigue, pain) and management strategies- Psychosocial impacts of thoracic cancers- Supportive and palliative care integration across the disease trajectory- Survivorship and long-term QoL outcomes- Caregiver experience and burden- Digital health tools and remote symptom monitoring- Cultural and geographic differences in patient experience- Health disparities and access to supportive care- Qualitative and mixed-methods studies capturing lived experience- Implementation science approaches to integrating QoL measures into practiceDr. Mai Schoenau declares that they are affiliated with Novo Nordisk Foundation and The Lundbeck Foundation through research funding.Dr. Malene Missel declares to have received speaker fees from Medscape for educational activities. Topic editors: Melissa Culligan, Malene Missel, Mai Nanna Schoenau Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82409/beyond-survival-in-thoracic-oncology-centering-patient-voice-quality-of-life-and-lived-experience