Positron Emission Tomography in Predicting Response in Patients Who Are Undergoing Treatment With Pemetrexed Disodium and Cisplatin With or Without Surgery for Stage I, Stage II, or Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically or cytologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
• Stage IB, II, IIIA, or IIIB (T4, N0-1) disease
• * Staging must have been performed 4 weeks prior to study entry with a CT scan of chest, upper abdomen, and fludeoxyglucose F 18 (\^18FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) scan
• * Mediastinal evaluation and staging based on combination of CT scan and FDG-PET results
• If N1 or N2 nodes are found by FDG-PET or CT scan, metastases must be ruled out by brain MRI
• Measurable and resectable disease
• * T4 lesions must be resectable
• Eligible for curative surgery
• No malignant pleural effusion
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• 18 and over
• Performance status
• ECOG 0-1
• Life expectancy
• Not specified
• Hematopoietic
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,250/mm\^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic
• Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST and ALT ≤ 3.0 times ULN
• Renal
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 45 mL/min
• Pulmonary
• Adequate pulmonary reserve to undergo surgery
• * Predicted FEV\_1 \> 0.8 L after resection
• Other
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 months after completion of study treatment
• Able to take corticosteroids
• Able to take folic acid or vitamin B\_12 supplements
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer or noninvasive cervical cancer
• No concurrent serious or uncontrolled disorder that would preclude study participation
• No type I diabetes mellitus
• * Type II diabetes mellitus allowed if glucose is 80-150 mg/dL
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• No concurrent immunotherapy
• No concurrent prophylactic filgrastim (G-CSF)
• No concurrent thrombopoiesis-stimulating agents
• Chemotherapy
• At least 5 years since prior chemotherapy
• Endocrine therapy
• No concurrent anticancer hormonal therapy
• Radiotherapy
• No prior radiotherapy to the chest
• No concurrent curative or palliative radiotherapy
• Surgery
• Not specified
• Other
• At least 30 days since prior non-FDA-approved or investigational agents
• At least 5 days since prior aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (8 days for long-acting agents \[e.g., piroxicam\])
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy
• No other concurrent investigational agents