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Quality-of-life
benefits and evidence of antitumour activity for patients with brain metastases
treated with gefitinib
A Katz1
and P Zalewski2
1Centro
Paulista de Oncologia and Department of Oncology, Albert Einstein Hospital, São
Paulo, Brazil;
2The Scarborough Hospital, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.
Correspondence to: A Katz, Av. Europa 105, São Paulo, Brazil. E-mail:
artkatz@uol.com.br
Brain metastases are a common complication of
non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The role of chemotherapy in the treatment of brain metastases has not been
clearly defined.
Emerging case reports of patients with recurrent NSCLC treated as part of the
Expanded Access Programme reveal that gefitinib ('Iressa', ZD1839) has clinical
activity in some patients with brain metastases.
Here, we describe a number of case studies documenting the response of patients
with brain metastases to treatment with gefitinib.
Many of these patients had quality-of-life benefits with improvement of
neurological and systemic symptoms; some had a partial response of their brain
metastases and even complete responses have been seen in a few patients.
One case report also describes a durable long-term response with concurrent
treatment with gefitinib and radiotherapy.
Such results call for larger trials designed to evaluate and define the role of
gefitinib in the treatment of brain metastases in NSCLC patients, either as a
single agent or in combination with radiation therapy.
Keywords:
gefitinib ('Iressa', ZD1839); EGFR; quality of life; brain metastases;
antitumour activity
doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6601478
© 2003 Cancer
Research UK
Source: http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/bjc/journal/v89/n2s/abs/6601478a.html
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