Figure 3.

Different situations at diagnosis of late stage non-small cell lung carcinoma for the use of next-generation liquid biopsy. The tissue biopsy (TB) is still the gold standard for molecular analysis, but a liquid biopsy (LB) is a useful tool when facing the challenge of a low percentage of tumor cells in the TB. (A) a transthoracic biopsy of “high quality” with many tumor cells. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) from tissue can be done. However, in some patient, LB at diagnosis can also be discussed. (B) a bronchial biopsy of “poor quality” with a few tumor cells. NGS cannot be done. A renewed TB and/or a LB can be done to perform NGS.