Could molecular pathology testing in lung cancer be more cost-effective?

EGFR and ALK analysis is routinely undertaken prior to targeted treatment of non-squamous non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Increasingly, limited resources require molecular pathology services to be cost-effective without detriment to patient care.

Data from an audit of molecular pathology testing in the South East Scotland Cancer Network (SCAN) network have been used to explore different testing strategies with the aim of reducing costs; including investigation of thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF1) expression as a negative predictor for EGFR mutations.

TTF1 immunohistochemistry had a high negative predictive value for EGFR mutations (99%). Reflex testing all non-squamous NSCLC, as expected, had the highest costs, whereas limiting testing to those who might be considered for treatment would lead to a cost reduction of only 7.5%; however, a serial testing model could save 32.7%.

Testing only patients being considered for EGFR and ALK inhibitors represented small savings; more significant savings would be achievable if testing algorithms used known associations between clinical biomarkers.