Director of Thoracic and Renal Pathology
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Lung cancer is still responsible for most cancer-related deaths for both genders in the United States. Traditionally, diagnosis and management of patients has been based on tissue biopsy to identify the major lung cancer categories. Although early stages of lung cancer are mainly managed surgically, it has become more evident in the past 10-15 years that the management of metastatic and advanced cases of lung cancer are based on a combination of pathologic findings, molecular profiling and clinical staging. The traditional molecular testing for EGFR, ALK and ROS1 has been expanded in view of newly developed targeted therapies, and the availability of Next Generation Sequencies and liquid biopsies. Immunotherapies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 are also part of current treatment arsenal available for lung cancer. This presentation will review the recommended molecular testing for lung cancer, biopsy and tissue guidelines as well as current methologies.
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