Dr Bazhenova on Identifying Gaps in EGFR-Mutated Lung Cancer Care

Lyudmila A. Bazhenova, MD, medical oncologist, professor, clinical medicine, University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center, discusses the 2023 Bridging the Gaps in Lung Cancer meeting, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts when approaching gaps in lung cancer care.

The realm of medical oncology includes patient and disease scenarios that lack definitive solutions, she begins. These situations are characterized by the absence of conclusive guidance from clinical trials, marking them as medical controversies, Bazhenova says. Resolving these controversies begins with articulating them, she explains. Therefore, Bazhenova says it is vital to discuss the precise nature of these knowledge gaps. Once these gaps are elucidated, the subsequent stage involves assembling teams of oncologists primed to tackle these discrepancies, Bazhenova emphasizes. This multifaceted approach both addresses gaps for which existing data may already hold answers and raises pertinent questions about topics including indispensable clinical trials and hitherto unknown facets of patient management that perplex oncologists, Bazhenova expands.

Moreover, Bazhenova shares that at the meeting, she led discussions in the EGFR sessions, where oncologists delved into the understanding and management of EGFR mutations,including sensitizing mutations, atypical mutations, and EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations, she notes. A pivotal subject of discourse was the current standard of care for patients with disease that is resistant to approved EGFR TKIs, she explains.

These gaps in lung cancer care cannot be effectively addressed at the individual provider level, Bazhenova continues. The current approach for delineating these gaps involves addressing these challenges through the lens of personal biases, past experiences, and perusal of anecdotal case reports. What is needed is a collaborative endeavor aimed at crafting research studies designed to garner answers, she explains. Furthermore, this collective effort should ensure that eligible patients are enrolled in these studies, thereby contributing to the accumulation of knowledge that will ultimately resolve these critical questions, Bazhenova concludes.