When based on lesions, no significant difference in the TNM stage of tumours was found between the EGFR mutation group and the wild-type EGFR group, in contrast with the results of Tu et al. [27]; they found that the EGFR mutation rate in early NSCLC patients was significantly higher than that in advanced NSCLC patients. The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.