To ensure that clinicians stay apace and provide optimal patient care, three leading medical societies—the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP)—have updated their 2013 evidence-based guideline on molecular testing and targeted therapies in lung cancer.
The Updated Molecular Testing Guideline for the Selection of Lung Cancer Patients for Treatment with Targeted Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors continues to set standards for the molecular analysis of lung cancers for test results that effectively guide targeted therapy and treatment.
“Several factors influenced this update, which builds on the guidance we set forth in 2013,” said Neal Lindeman, MD, Director of Molecular Diagnostics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and AMP member. “Clinical practice guidelines must continually assess new evidence as it accumulates and consider new testing technologies as they emerge.”
Dr. Lindeman led the international, multidisciplinary panel of expert authors appointed by each of the three organizations. The panel included pathologists, oncologists, pulmonologists, a methodologist, laboratory scientists, and patient representatives who collaborated to develop the guideline following the Institute of Medicine’s evidence-based process.
Important Recommendations
The updated guideline strengthens or reaffirms the majority of the 2013 recommendations for patients with lung adenocarcinoma, and also recommends testing for some new genes. Most notably:
The complete guideline is available online at the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, and theJournal of Molecular Diagnostics. Additionally, CAP, IASLC, and AMP developed resources to help pathologists and oncologists review and implement the guideline, including a summary of recommendations, a teaching presentation, and frequently asked questions.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.