Lung cancer is the malignant tumor with the fastest growing incidence and mortality rate and the greatest threat to human health and life. However, due to the relative backwardness in screening and early diagnosis research of lung cancer in China, many patients are already in advanced stage when they are clearly diagnosed. In the perception of many ordinary patients and even doctors, only early stage lung cancer patients have the opportunity to receive surgery. However, in fact, due to the insidious symptoms of early stage lung cancer, only 20-30% of lung cancer patients can be directly operated at the time of diagnosis. So, are the remaining patients with more than 70% lost to surgery? Actually, not all advanced lung cancers are lost to surgery. Patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LANSCLC) can be treated with surgery and have a satisfactory outcome after surgery. LANSCLC is defined as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with mediastinal lymph node (N2) and supraclavicular lymph node (N3) metastases, invasion of the apical lung and important mediastinal structures (T4), and no distant metastases detected by current screening methods. According to the International Union Against Cancer 1997 International Lung Cancer Staging Standards, LANSCLC is classified as stage IIIA and stage IIIB lung cancer. According to statistics, patients with locally advanced lung cancer account for a large proportion of patients, and LANSCLC accounts for about 60%-70% of NSCLC and about 60% of all lung cancers. The treatment of lung cancer currently includes surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, Chinese herbal medicine, etc. The choice of treatment depends on the patient. The choice of treatment is based on the patient’s general condition, clinicopathological stage and the presence of combined diseases. For non-small cell lung cancer, except for some stage IIIB and IV patients, surgical treatment should be or strive to be the leading treatment. To date, radical resection remains the only treatment that has the potential to cure lung cancer patients and thus restore them to a normal life. Some stage IIIB patients with large tumors that have invaded other adjacent tissues and organs such as heart, large blood vessels, esophagus, etc., or patients with regional lymph node metastasis but no distant organ metastasis yet, are clinically defined as locally advanced lung cancer (LANSCLC), in fact, most of them can be treated surgically and a considerable number of them can achieve long-term survival after surgery. For this group of patients, surgical treatment is significantly more effective than medical treatment, and for those who are eligible for surgery, surgical treatment should be strived for. Nowadays, these patients can first reduce the size of the tumor lesion through other comprehensive treatments, and then strive for surgical resection and reconstruction of the affected organs. For example, for LANSCLC that invades the heart and large blood vessels, lung resection and enlarged heart and large blood vessel resection and reconstruction can be performed selectively, which can significantly increase the 5-year survival rate and improve the prognosis of patients. There are also some patients with stage IV, even if the cancer has metastasized, but if the metastases are solitary, there is still a chance for surgical resection, such as lung cancer with intracranial metastases, and resection of metastatic lesions and lung lobes can also be performed at the same time or in stages. In conclusion, different patients should choose individualized treatment plans and combine surgical treatment and other comprehensive treatment means organically, most lung cancer patients can prolong their survival, and a considerable part of them can be cured.