Eleven patients with histologically-proven EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis were enrolled in the study between April 2014 and November 2015.
Therefore, afatinib administered at the usual doses may be an effective treatment for leptomeningeal carcinomatosis of EGFR-mutated or EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor-sensitive lung adenocarcinoma.
Overall, 22 patients (8.2%) were treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors for leptomeningeal carcinomatosis from non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutation between 2006 and 2016.
PC-9/LMC-GR cells were established from the gefitinib-resistant leptomeningeal carcinomatosis model, and they were found to be intermediately resistant to gefitinib and osimertinib (third-generation EGFR-TKI).
These observations suggest that the third generation EGFR-TKI AZD9291 may be an effective treatment for first or second generation EGFR-TKI resistant LMC caused by EGFR-mutant lung cancer.
Our results suggest that icotinib is effective for the treatment of LMC from NSCLC with an EGFR mutation, especially for patients with a good ECOG PS score.
One hundred and twenty-four (58.5%) patients were treated with EGFR TKI, and 128 (60.4%) patients were treated with whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) after the diagnosis of LC.
Our case suggests that dual targeting of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) by a combination of afatinib and cetuximab can be a potential novel treatment option in treating LMC when high-dose TKI failed.
EGFR-TKI combined with radiotherapy may be a therapeutic approach capable of improving the prognosis of patients with lung adenocarcinoma with CM harboring the EGFR gene mutation.