WCLC 2022 | Liquid biopsies first to make treatment decisions in patients with metastatic NSCLC

Luis Raez, MD, FACP, FCCP, Memorial Cancer Institute/Memorial Healthcare System, Miami, FL, discusses a retrospective study aiming to demonstrate that liquid biopsies can be used in treatment decision making for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC). Next generation sequencing (NGS) was conducted via tissue biopsy and liquid biopsy. Data collected from the electronic medical record included: demographics, sequencing turnaround times, test used to make treatment decision, date of disease progression and death, and identified actionable genetic alteration. Overall, treating oncologists based their treatment decisions on liquid biopsy results three times more often than tissue biopsy, suggesting liquid biopsy as a good component to tissue biopsy, or could also be incorporated as a standard of care guide to first-line therapy decisions in the majority of patients with mNSCLC due to its accuracy and shorter turnaround time. This interview took place at the IASLC 2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer congress in Vienna, Austria.