Dexamethasone Effects in Patients With Refractory Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Using FLT Positron Emission Tomography

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have histologically or cytologically proven advanced non-squamous NSCLC. Patients may have newly diagnosed recurrent progressive or refractory disease which may be localized or wide spread. * No chemotherapy for at least 4 weeks and no radiation to the index lesion or clear progression in that lesion (greater than 20% increase in longest diameter). * Life expectancy of greater than 4 weeks * Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,000/mcL (measured within 2 weeks of registration) * No history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or active infections * No history of diabetes * No surgery in the last 2 weeks prior to study enrollment * Has not received Dex or another corticosteroid in over 4 weeks prior to enrollment * Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document * Agreed to FLT-PET imaging and signed consent and eligible FLT-PET protocol 2006-127 * Registered with the clinical trials office of the Karmanos Cancer Center/Wayne State University Exclusion Criteria: * Patients must have measureable disease, defined as at least one lesion that can be accurately measured in at least one dimension (longest diameter to be recorded) as \>= 20 mm with conventional techniques (computed tomography \[CT\], magnetic resonance \[MR\] or PET); lesions in the previously irradiated area can be considered as measureable lesions as long as there has been an increase of at least 10 mm when compared to measurements obtained after completion of radiation