Study finds significant variation in biomarker test utilization and treatment for non–small-cell lung cancer
Biomarker testing surveys specific disease-associated molecules to predict treatment response and disease progression; however its use has complicated the diagnosis of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In a new study in
The
Journal of Molecular Diagnosis, published by Elsevier, investigators provide for the first time a complete overview of biomarker testing, spanning multiple treatment lines, in a single cohort of patients.
Using exploratory data analysis and process-mining techniques in a real-world setting, investigators identified significant variation in test utilization and treatment. They also found that while whole-genome sequencing, in which a patient's unique DNA is mapped at once, may not be a cost saving alternative to biomarker testing, as some have suggested, it may have other benefits for patients, such as decreasing the time between testing and therapy.