BACKGROUND@#The
patients with advanced
lung adenocarcinoma should select targeted
drugs based on the type of
tumor epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)
gene mutation . However, it is difficult to collect
tumor tissue of advanced
lung adenocarcinoma , and some experts agree that peripheral
blood can be used as a substitute for
tumor tissue as a test specimen. This
paper aimed to investigate the clinical value of ddPCR and super-amplification refractory
mutation system (
ARMS ) in detecting
EGFR gene mutation in peripheral
blood of
patients with advanced
lung adenocarcinoma .@*
METHODS @#A total of 119
patients diagnosed in
Beijing Chest Hospital Affiliated to
Capital Medical
University from February 2016 to February 2019 were collected, and the
sensitivity and specificity of
plasma ctDNA
EGFR gene mutation detected by ddPCR and super-
arms were compared. Some
patients with positive
EGFR gene mutations received oral
treatment with first-line EGFR
tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI). The
patients were divided into subgroups according to the test results. In group 1, both ddPCR and super-
arms showed positive
EGFR gene mutation results, with 21 cases. In group 2, ddPCR and super-
arms detection of
EGFR gene mutation were all negative, with 16 cases. In group 3, the ddPCR test was positive and the super-
arms test was negative, with 5 cases. In group 4, the ddPCR test result was negative while the super-
arms test result was positive. Since the number of
patients in group 4 was 0, no
statistics were included. Objective response rate (ORR) and
disease control rate (DCR) were used to evaluate the short-term outcome, and
progression-free survival (PFS) was compared with
survival analysis to evaluate the long-term outcome.@*RESULTS@#EGFR
mutations were detected in 58 (48.7%) of 119
patients with advanced
lung adenocarcinoma . The coincidence rate between ddPCR and
EGFR gene mutation in
tumor tissues was 82.4% (Kappa=0.647, P0.05).
Survival analysis showed that the PFS of the three groups was compared. The difference was not statistically significant (χ²=2.221, P=0.329).@*CONCLUSIONS@#ddPCR, as a high
sensitivity and specificity liquid
gene detection method , can be used as a reliable
method to detect the
mutation of
plasma ctDNA
EGFR gene in
patients with advanced
lung adenocarcinoma . The results of
plasma genetic testing can also be used as the basis for predicting the
efficacy of EGFR-TKIs in
patients .