Securing a clear diagnosis in patients with lung cancer is particularly important because treatment selection relies so heavily on it^1-5. However, current lung cancer classification methodology cannot support the level of accuracy needed for informed decisions related treatment modalities including targeted lung cancer therapies^6-10. Pathologists and physicians need a better way to diagnose patients and develop treatment plans in a timely fashion.

 

 

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2. Johnson DH, Fehrenbacher L, Novotny WF, et al. Randomized phase II trial comparing bevacizumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel with carboplatin and paclitaxel alone in previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2004;22(11):2184-2191.
3. Clark GM, Zborowski DM, Santabarbara P, et al, and the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group study BR.21. Smoking history and epidermal growth factor receptor expression as predictors of survival benefit from erlotinib for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer in the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group study BR.21. Clin Lung Cancer. 2006;7(6):389-394.
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6. Stang A, Pohlabeln H, Müller KM, Jahn I, Giersiepen K, Jöckel KH. Diagnostic agreement in the histopathological evaluation of lung cancer tissue in a population-based case-control study. Lung Cancer. 2006;52(1):29-36.
7. Field RW, Smith BJ, Platz CE, et al. Lung cancer histologic type in the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results registry versus independent review. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004;96(14):1105-1107.
8. Perelman M, Rosenwald S, Spector Y, et al. MicroRNA biomarkers for differential diagnosis of lung tumors. Presented at: United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Annual Meeting; March 7-13, 2009; Boston, MA. Abstract 1630.
9. Khayyata S, Yun S, Pasha T, Jian B, McGrath C, Yu G, Gupta P, Baloch Z. Value of P63 and CK5/6 in distinguishing squamous cell carcinoma from adenocarcinoma in lung fine-needle aspiration specimens.Diagn Cytopathol. 2009:37(3):178-83.
10. Gustafsson BI, Kidd M, Chan A, Malfertheiner MV, Modlin IM. Bronchopulmonary neuroendocrine tumors. Cancer. 2008:113(1):5-21.