一種基因檢測能夠預測早期肺癌患者是否需要化療，那些患者能夠避免藥物的毒性作用。

這種新型檢測方法叫做肺Metagene預測儀，能夠掃描數以千計的基因，以鑒別個體腫瘤中的基因活性模式，預測那些患者可能會疾病復發。復發的腫瘤通常是致命的，因此鑒別出面臨危險的患者進行治療是十分重要的。

這項檢測方法是由Duke大學醫學中心(Durham, NC, USA)的科學家發明的，通過檢測早期肺癌患者的基因活性，從而得到疾病的轉歸。Duke大學的科學家在129例患者中通過比較患者的預后證實了基因檢測的效果。該項檢測預測復發危險的準確性為90％。這些結果在2006年8月的《新英格蘭醫學期刊》上進行了報道。
 
Test Predicts Lung-Cancer Recurrence Risk
 
A genomic test predicts which patients with early-stage lung cancer will need chemotherapy and which patients can avoid the toxic regimen of drugs.

The new test, called the Lung Metagene Predictor, scans thousands of genes to identify patterns of gene activity in individual tumors that indicate which patients are likely to suffer a recurrence of disease. Recurrent tumors are typically fatal, so identifying at-risk patients is critical to properly treating them.

The test was developed by scientists at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC, USA), who analyzed the activity of genes from early-stage lung cancer patients whose disease outcomes were known. The Duke scientists validated the genomic test in 129 patients by comparing the test’s predictions with the patients’ actual outcomes. The test predicted the risk of recurrence with 90% accuracy. The findings were published in the August 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.