Other available EGFR mutation detection methods

Other techniques that can be used to detect EGFR mutations in DNA derived from tumour biopsies include

Fluorescent In-Situ Hybridisation (FISH) and Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
More information… These methods should not be used for EGFR mutation testing as they do not detect mutations in the tumour DNA. FISH measures the number of copies of DNA of the EGFR gene and IHC measures the expression of the EGFR protein within the cell

EGFR mutation detection best practice

All mutation detection methods should be robust and performed to the highest standards with established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Quality control of each step in the process should be in place (Eberhard 2008)