Successful salvage surgery following multimodal therapy in a patient who harboured ALK ‐rearranged advanced lung adenocarcinoma with multiple organ metastases

This case report highlights that multidisciplinary treatment planning is critical for stage IIIb –IV non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in the era of highly effective treatments, including chemotherapy, molecular targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, which may demonstrate treatment‐free remission (TFR) even in highly selected advanced lung cancer patients with poly‐metastases, a nd we need more information about the association between each genetic alteration and the significance of salvage surgery. The prognosis of stage IVb non ‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with multiple distant metastases or involvement of different extra‐thoracic sites is poor. The prognosis following salvage surgery for patients with more than five metastases has been reported as most unfavourable. The following case is of a 71‐year‐o ld man with a 9‐year survival duration after being diagnosed with stage IVb ALK‐rearranged lung adenocarcinoma, who was treated for 6 years with whole‐brain radiotherapy, pemetrexed‐based chemotherapy, ALK‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) including ceritinib and alectinib, and salvage sub lobar resection of the primary lung cancer and who obtained treatment‐free remission (TFR) for more than 3 years following surgery.
Source: Respirology Case Reports - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Case Report Source Type: research