Prolonged survival of patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer with solitary brain metastases treated with surgical resection of brain and lung lesions followed by EGFR TKIs.

BACKGROUND: The standard combination of initial and subsequent treatments of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with solitary brain metastases (BM) remain unclear. Thus, the management options and the progression-free survival (PFS) and the overall survival (OS) of EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients with solitary BM were investigated in the study.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data from NSCLC patients who harbored EGFR mutations and who presented solitary BM at diagnosis in our institute between 2012 and 2014. PFS and OS were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier methods and compared using log-rank tests.

RESULTS: In total, 36 NSCLC patients with solitary BM who harbored EGFR mutations were enrolled in this study. The PFS and OS of these patients was 12.4 and 19.3 months, respectively. Sixteen patients underwent surgical resection of brain and lung lesions followed by EGFR-TKIs treatment, and the median OS was 28.0 months, which was significantly longer than 16.4 months of 14 patients received radiotherapy combined with or followed by EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and 15.8 months of 6 patients received radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy. The median PFS also showed the same trend in each group (16.1, 10.4, and 9.8 months, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: The survival was extended in the patients receiving surgical resection of brain and lung lesions followed by EGFR-TKIs treatment, and surgery combined with EGFR-TKIs could be a recommended treatment for EGFR mutated NSCLC patients with solitary BM.