Thirdly, with the emergence of promising reports showing the ability to detect EGFR mutations in the circulating plasma DNA of NSCLC patients [44], the SMART assay should serve as a useful diagnostic tool for broad oncogenic mutation surveillance of plasma as well as for accurately monitoring changes in the level of patient-specific mutations in response to targeted drug therapy. The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.