Pioglitazone Hydrochloride in Treating Patients With Stage IA-IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Inclusion Criteria

• •Suspected or biopsy-proven NSCLC
• •Willingness to provide biopsy tissue for correlative studies
• •Candidate for pulmonary resection; must be able to schedule \>= 14 days and =\< 42 days between registration and surgery to allow for treatment with pioglitazone
• •Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document
• •Ability and willingness to swallow oral tablets
• •Ability and willingness to undergo two bronchoscopies (before treatment and at the time of surgery)
• •* For those participants who are undergoing mediastinoscopy as part of their standard-of-care, the pre-treatment bronchoscopy may be performed during the mediastinoscopy; if the participant remains eligible for definitive surgical resection after the mediastinoscopy, the participant may proceed to registration and pioglitazone treatment
• •Current or former smoker with a \>= 10 pack-year smoking history
• •Women of child-bearing potential and men who agree to use adequate contraception for the duration of study participation; women must not be pregnant or lactating; women of child-bearing potential (women considered not of childbearing potential if they are at least two years postmenopausal and/or surgically sterile) must have used adequate contraception (abstinence; barrier methods such as intrauterine device \[IUD\], diaphragm with spermicidal gel, condom, or others; and hormonal methods such as birth control pills or others) since her last menses prior to study entry; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her study physician immediately