Dr. Perez-Soler on the Utility of Liquid Biopsy in Lung Cancer

Roman Perez-Soler, MD, chairman, Department of Oncology, chief, Division of Medical Oncology, Montefiore Medical Center, and professor of medicine and molecular pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the utility of liquid biopsy in lung cancer.

Liquid biopsy allows for detection of molecular abnormalities by sequencing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) without an invasive procedure, explains Perez-Soler. Despite some controversy surrounding liquid biopsy, 70% to 80% of tests provide viable results, says Perez-Soler.

Tumor biopsy may be recommended for the 20% to 30% of cases where not enough ctDNA was present in the peripheral blood. However, because tumor biopsy is testing the DNA in a single lesion, the results may differ from peripheral blood testing, which encompasses DNA from all metastatic sites, explains Perez-Soler.

As such, Perez-Soler advises both liquid biopsy and tumor biopsy be performed when possible to provide complementary results.