This book aims to educate nurses and advanced practice providers (APP's) about known mutations
availability of targeted therapy and the management of patients with non-small cell lung cancer
(NSCLC). It will educate nurses and practitioners about the scope of therapy to assure safe and
effective lung cancer treatment. In this era of personalized medicine nurses and APP's are
responsible for guiding patients from diagnosis through treatment. This starts with the
identification of patients that can benefit from these therapies the key role of biopsy
acquisition (ie. what to test when and how often) and treatment selection based on the
mutation identified. Readers will learn about the mechanisms of action administration
potential adverse side effects and unique management strategies for these targeted agents. Lung
cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and worldwide.
Recent advances in the identification of specific oncogenic mutations that drive cancer
development growth and metastasis have led to major paradigm shifts in lung cancer treatment.
Sophisticated methods are required to identify specific mutations at the time of diagnosis.
This book explains how molecularly targeted therapies have been developed that target these
drivers. To date several tyrosine kinase inhibitors have been approved to target the epidermal
growth factor receptor (EGFR) EML4-ALK ROS1 and BRAF. Most recently immune checkpoint
inhibitors have been approved with some indication that efficacy may be enhanced for patients
who overexpress PD-L1. While some driver mutations have been identified there is ongoing
investigation into additional mutations. In the case of driver mutations lung cancers will
develop resistance to therapy. This book provides nurses and APP's with the mechanisms of
resistance that have been identified such as T790 mutation and many others in the EGFR mutation
and shows how the next level of drug development is focused on identifying mechanisms of
resistance and development of new agents that overcome these mutations. With this book in hand
nurses and practitioners will be able to navigate patients through this ever expanding field of
lung cancer treatment.
