Plicní lékaři prosazují širší genetické testování nádorů

Pulmonologists are advocating for expanded genetic testing of lung tumors from the currently standard three genes to ten or more genes. According to Martin Svatoň, head of the Pulmonology Clinic at Plzeň University Hospital, testing approximately twenty genes in newly diagnosed patients would help identify mutations that can be therapeutically targeted, thereby increasing treatment effectiveness and chances of cure. Currently, samples are tested for only three basic genes, and further testing is requested only after initial treatment fails. Approximately 6,500 people develop lung cancer annually, and 5,300 patients die from it each year. More than half of tumors detected through screening introduced since 2022 were in the first or second stage, when the disease is usually curable. Expanded genetic testing could benefit approximately ten percent of patients while reducing costs associated with ineffective treatment.