1 of 1
Story summary
- Research at the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer shows that post-chemotherapy circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) measurement can identify limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients who may benefit from consolidation immunotherapy.
- Analyzed 490 ctDNA samples from 144 patients, finding that positive ctDNA after chemotherapy significantly raises the risk of disease progression or death.
- A three-level prognostic strategy was created, combining ctDNA status and tumor shrinkage to enhance outcome predictions.
- High tumor mutational burden (TMB-high) occurred in 8.2% of cases, linked to mismatch repair gene variants, indicating tumorigenesis implications.
- The study calls for larger-scale research to confirm ctDNA monitoring's clinical effectiveness.
