Commentary—Preoperative Identification of STAS: An Elusive Biomarker

Spread through air spaces (STAS) is a recently identified marker that predicts worse outcomes in patients with lung cancer and is postulated to be one of the reasons why some patients with early-stage lung adenocarcinoma have uncharacteristically high locoregional recurrence rates. This is a marker that is challenging and unreliable to identify on frozen sections but is proving to be an important determinant of deciding the extent of oncological resection. Additional investigation into better identifying STAS is needed at this time. The authors in this excellent commentary highlight some of the work done so far in this regard, and the future steps needed.