Brain Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Brain Cancer, including details on symptoms, benign and malignant tumors, gliomas, treatment.

Erlotinib in patients with previously irradiated, recurrent brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer: two case reports.

von Pawel J, Wagner H, Duell T, Poellinger B

Klinik fur Pneumologie, Asklepios-Fachkliniken Munchen-Gauting, Gauting, Germany. j.pawel@asklepios.com

BACKGROUND: With the current improvements in primary lung care, the long-term control of brain metastases becomes a clinical challenge. No established therapeutic approaches exist for cranial relapse after response to previous radiotherapy and systemic therapy. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors like erlotinib with its proven activity in non-small cell lung cancer may provide clinical benefits in such patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two case reports are presented illustrating the efficacy of erlotinib in patients with recurrent brain metastases and parallel thoracic progression. RESULTS: Both patients showed lasting partial remissions in the brain and lung, and clinical symptom improvement. CONCLUSION: The observed survival times of above 18 and 15 months, respectively, since occurrence of cranial disease manifestation in line with the achieved progression-free survival times of 9 and 6 months by the erlotinib third-line therapy are remarkable. The use of targeted therapies after wholebrain irradiation should be investigated more systematically in prospective clinical trials.

Published 6 March 2008 in Onkologie, 31(3): 123-6.
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