Rates of first next-generation sequencing (NGS) testing at the end of life in patients (pts) with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC).
Authors: Hage Chehade Chadi , Jo Yeonjung , Ozay Zeynep Irem , Gebrael Georges , Sayegh Nicolas , Hardy Richard , Anderson Ethan , Nordblad Blake , Mathew Thomas Vinay , Li Haoran , Gupta Sumati , Graf Ryon P , Roy Soumyajit , Maughan Benjamin L. , Riaz Irbaz Bin , McKay Rana R. , Swami Umang , Agarwal Neeraj 
Published: February 2025

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Background:
Despite the availability of targeted therapies like erdafitinib for pts with aUC with susceptible genomic alterations, the rate of NGS testing remains low at 32% in the United States (Hage Chehade...Swami, JAMA Network Open, 2024). Furthermore, limited data exist regarding the timing of NGS testing in relation to the time of death. Herein, we sought to assess the rates of NGS testing at the end of life in pts with aUC in a real-world patient population.
Methods:
A de-identified nationwide Flatiron Health electronic health record (EHR)-derived database was used to extract patient-level data. Inclusion criteria: pts who received NGS testing (blood/tissue) and who had a date of death recorded. The analytic cohort included pts diagnosed with aUC between 1/1/2011 and 11/14/2022 who received first NGS testing results between 5/3/2012 and 12/21/2022. The time difference between each pt’s first NGS result delivered and death was calculated, and thereafter, pts were categorized into 3 categories: pts receiving results > 3 months (mo) before death, within 3 mo of death, or after death. The frequency and percentages of the 3 categories were reported, as well as by year of death. The percentages in each category were compared between 2019 (year of erdafitinib approval) and 2022 (last year in dataset) to evaluate changes in NGS testing trend.
Results:
Among 12,157 pts with aUC in the dataset, 1,637 had both a recorded date of death and underwent NGS testing, and were eligible and included in final analysis. The median age was 72 (IQR 66 – 79). The majority were male (73%), White non-Hispanic (76%), and treated in community practice (86%). 68.2% received NGS results > 3 mo before death (n = 1,117), 28.3% received results within 3 mo of death (n = 464), and 3.4% of NGS results were reported after death (n = 56). In pts who died in 2019 versus 2022, the percentage of pts receiving NGS results > 3 mo before death increased from 61% to 75%, while the percentage of pts receiving results within 3 months decreased from 33% to 22%, and the percentage of NGS results reported after death declined from 5.2 to 2.7%. Baseline characteristics (including race-ethnicity, insurance plan, practice type [academic vs. community]) in these categories will be presented at the meeting.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that a sizeable number of pts with aUC (∼ 32%) received their first NGS testing results towards the end of life, highlighting the need to integrate genomic testing earlier during the course of the disease to optimize benefit with targeted therapies. These results could inform clinical practice and therapeutic decisions in the clinic. CHC, YJ: Equal contribution; US, NA: Senior authors.