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The Role of Liquid Biopsies in Thoracic Malignancies
Jonathan Goldman, MD, discusses the role liquid biopsies play in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with thoracic malignancies.
Transcript:
Jonathan Goldman, MD: My name is Jonathan Goldman. I'm an associate professor at UCLA where I focus on thoracic oncology and drug development.
I'm here speaking at Perspectives in Thoracic Oncology, an event run by OLN, and I just spoke about the use of circulating tumor DNA testing, also called liquid biopsy, as a very significant new advancement in our diagnostic algorithm. Patients that either cannot get a biopsy due to the location of a tumor mass or for whom there's no available tissue, circulating tumor DNA can be an effective strategy with a rapid turnaround time, a good sensitivity, and you avoid the cost and complications of a potential biopsy.
My talk was looking at some of the advantages of liquid biopsy, some of the challenges in interpreting results, and how we may use this technology and also what we may be looking forward to in the future as we study, perhaps, low disease states, maybe even in the adjuvant setting, how we learn about resistance mechanisms to our current therapies and how that may lead to clinical trials and improved clinical care as well.
