Safety and Success of Repeat Lung Needle Biopsies in Patients with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Mutant Lung Cancer.

Repeat percutaneous transthoracic needle aspirations and biopsies for postprogression molecular profiling of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutant lung cancer are safe in everday clinical practice. Coaxial technique, fine-needle aspirates, rapid on-site pathologic evaluation, and multiple 20-gauge tissue cores result in excellent specimen adequacy. Although liquid biopsies are increasingly used, their sensitivity for analysis of resistant EGFR-mutant lung cancers remains limited. Tissue biopsies remain important in this context, especially because osimertinib is now in the frontline setting and T790M is no longer the major finding of interest on molecular profiling.