Dr. Karen Kelly describes her thought process on which molecular markers are those clearly indicated for  patients with advanced NSCLC, as well as whether smoking status factors into her approach.

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Dr. Lecia Sequist describes the state of the art and her view of current best practices on molecular testing for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

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As a second part of a recent video I did that introduces the concept of a mixed response in lung cancer (or many other cancers) and how we might manage that situation, I wanted to cover the biology of what is presumably occurring.  Here's a video that covers this issue, as well as the implication that we can learn more about this by doing multiple biopsies, more than is considered as the typical standard now.

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Here's a video I just did in response to my recent spate of molecular marker studies I've sent in the last 4-6 weeks that have come back with quite a few positive results for an EGFR mutation or ALK rearrangement, as well as one patient positive for a ROS1 rearrangement.  For each of these patients, the results have had a major impact in the opportunity for them to receive an oral therapy with a high probability of response, and in a few cases, we've already seen a significant improvement.

One of the current controversies in the field of lung cancer is whether we should be doing biopsies routinely when a patient develops progression of their disease, particularly in the setting of acquired resistance to a molecularly targeted therapy.  There are some academic oncologists who favor this approach, but I think there's a very good reason why this isn't and shouldn't be the current standard of care.

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The last topic covered by Dr. Neal was on exciting work on molecular targets for squamous NSCLC.

One of the questions that comes up fairly frequently is what to make of a "mixed response" to systemic therapy: after several weeks or months of treatment, a scan shows some areas of known disease shrinking, but others are growing.  Why might this happen? What does it mean? And what should it lead us to do?

Folks here know that just about every day we discuss questions of what molecular marker test to order for lung cancer, how important it is, how it's done, what tissue is needed, and other very timely and practical issues in lung cancer.  These are questions that evolve every few months, as new research emerges with different markers.  

This is the last of six podcasts produced from the two hour program we did in partnership with the LUNGevity Foundation earlier this year in Santa Monica, at the start of the "Targeted Therapies in Lung Cancer" annual meeting.  This activity was comprised of some great panel discussions and brief presentations on tough but timely issues on the subject of "Molecular Markers in Advanced NSCLC: Who to Test and What to Test For?".  It featured guest faculty members Dr. Charlie Rudin from Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Alice Shaw from Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr.

Here's part 5 of our Santa Monica program on Molecular Markers in Advanced NSCLC, closing in on the end of the activity.  In this podcast, my friend Dr.