Dr. Levy on Repeat Testing in NSCLC

Benjamin P. Levy, MD, assistant professor of oncology and clinical director of Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses the importance of repeat testing in non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Repeat testing at diagnosis is important for patients whose initial tissue or liquid biopsy was inconclusive, says Levy. An inconclusive liquid biopsy may indicate a patient is not shedding circulating tumor DNA, says Levy. In these cases, repeat testing may reveal a genetic mutation.

Patients who develop resistance to a therapy should also be considered for repeat testing, says Levy.

Additionally, patients who progress on genotype-directed therapies like osimertinib (Tagrisso) or alectinib (Alecensa) should be considered for repeat testing as it can help optimize subsequent therapy for these patients, concludes Levy.