Cytopathology in focus: New direction for thoracic small biopsy, cytology specimens
August 2020—Cytopathologists are keenly aware of the need to collect adequate cytologic tissue not only to arrive at a diagnosis but also to provide sufficient material for predictive and prognostic markers. This is especially true in the realm of non-small cell lung cancer, where biomarker testing is routinely used for the clinical management of patients with advanced-stage disease. The list of clinically relevant biomarkers in NSCLC is expanding. The most recent version of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology includes MET exon 14 skipping mutations and RET as therapeutic targets for advanced NSCLC, in addition to the well-established EGFR and BRAF mutations, ALK and ROS1 rearrangements, and PD-L1 expression.