The diagnostic accuracy of pleural effusion and plasma samples versus tumour tissue for detection of EGFR mutation in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: comparison of methodologies

Abstract

MPE and plasma are valid surrogates for NSCLC tumour EGFR mutation detection when tissue is not available. ARMS is most suitable for mutation detection in tissue and MPE cell blocks; however, mutant-specific IHC could be a complementary method when DNA-based molecular testing is unavailable.