Lin C, et al. - Because anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) is now a validated kinase target for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), researchers have implemented three ALK laboratory methodologies: fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) to detect EML4-ALK fusions and compared the predictive value for ALK-positive patients for crizotinib efficacy. For this analysis, 55 positive ALK patients confirmed by at least one method were enrolled in this study, 45 of whom were assessed simultaneously by FISH, IHC and NGS, and another 10 were assessed for ALK status only by IHC and NGS. Although considered the gold standard, FISH has a certain false-negative rate. Ventana-D5F3 IHC is qualified as a screening tool, while positive NGS can more accurately predict crizotinib's clinical benefit, allowing for efficient testing of specific variants and concurrent genomic changes.