Successful treatment of a patient with ALK-rearranged lung adenocarcinoma having symptomatic brain metastases using alectinib
Taro Yoneda Hayato Koba Shingo Nishikawa Takashi Sone Hideharu Kimura Kazuo Kasahara
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kanazawa University Hospital
A 66-year-old woman was diagnosed with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-rearranged lung adenocarcinoma, assigned a clinical stage of IIIA. She underwent chemoradiotherapy as the first-line treatment. She was admitted to our hospital one year later as she was experiencing severe headache, nausea, and vertigo. Head contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a total of 15 brain metastases. Although her performance status was 4, she was treated with alectinib. She refused to undergo whole-brain radiotherapy. Symptoms of brain metastases disappeared after starting alectinib therapy. A head contrast-enhanced MRI performed 13 days after starting alectinib therapy revealed that the number of brain metastases had markedly reduced. She was discharged from hospital 17 days after commencing alectinib therapy. In the above case study, alectinib therapy showed a beneficial effect on symptomatic brain metastases.
ALK-rearranged lung adenocarcinoma ALK inhibitor Brain metastases Whole brain radiation therapy
Received 2 Aug 2017 / Accepted 27 Nov 2017
AJRS, 7(2): 95-99, 2018