Draft guidance has been issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in an aim to identify more clinically and cost-effective lung cancer treatment.
The independent body has recommended test options to detect mutations involved in cancer cell growth that cause them to grow more quickly.
Research has shown that tumour sufferers with the mutation can gain more benefit from alternative treatment to standard chemotherapy; those without the mutation benefit more from standard chemotherapy.
Professor Carole Longson, director of the NICE Health Technology Evaluation Centre, said: "It is important to ensure high accuracy of testing, particularly to minimise the chances of incorrect treatment as a result of a test results, in order to improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer."
The recommended tests are currently used in NHS laboratories in England but there is currently no consensus on which laboratory test should be used to determine the nature of the tumour and treatment.
The aim of the guidance is to identify more clinically and cost-effective decisions on different tests. It recommends five options to detect mutations.
