Table 3.
Biomarker and biopsy practice patterns by histology for patients with advanced NSCLC
| Squamous (n=43) |
Nonsquamous (n=129) |
Unknown (n=3) |
All patients (N=175) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total patients with biopsy | 41 (95) | 115 (89) | 3 (100) | 159 (91) |
| Mean (SD) number of biopsies per patient | 1.0 (0.2) | 1.1 (0.5) | 1.3 (0.6) | 1.1 (0.4) |
| Patients with re-biopsy | 1 (2) | 5 (4) | 1 (33) | 7 (4) |
| At least 1 biomarker test performed | 17 (40) | 110 (85) | 3 (100) | 130 (74) |
| Type of test | ||||
| EGFR, n (% of all patients) | 17 (40) | 105 (81) | 3 (100) | 125 (71) |
| ALK, n (% of all patients) | 4 (9) | 25 (19) | 1 (33) | 30 (17) |
| KRAS, n (% of all patients) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 (1) |
| EGFR test result, n (% of patients tested) | ||||
| Positive EGFR mutation status | 1 (6) | 44 (42) | 2 (67) | 47 (38) |
| Negative EGFR mutation status | 16 (94) | 60 (57)a | 1 (33) | 77 (62)a |
| ALK test result, n (% of patients tested) | ||||
| Positive for ALK rearrangement | 0 | 2 (8) | 0 | 2 (7) |
| Negative for ALK rearrangement | 4 (100) | 23 (92) | 1 (100) | 28 (93) |
| Timing of biomarker testing, n | 16 | 109 | 3 | 128 |
| Before confirmed diagnosisb | 9 (56) | 68 (62) | 1 (33) | 78 (61) |
| Before start of 1L therapy, after diagnosis | 6 (38) | 40 (37) | 2 (67) | 48 (38) |
| Before start of 2L therapy, after 1L therapy | 1 (6) | 4 (4) | 0 | 5 (4) |
| Before start of 3L therapy, after 2L therapy | 1 (6) | 4 (4) | 0 | 5 (4) |
| After 3L therapy | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 (1) |
| Missing, n | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Notes: Data are n (%) unless otherwise noted.
a
EGFR-mutation test results for 1 patient were unknown/inconclusive.
b
Diagnosis made by tissue biopsy and/or cytology.
Abbreviations: 1L, first-line; 2L, second-line; 3L, third-line; ALK, anaplastic lymphoma kinase; EGFR, epidermal growth factor receptor; NSCLC, non-small cell lung cancer.