[A Clinical Observation of Concomitant Therapy of Erlotinib and Whole Brain Radiotherapy in Patients of NSCLC Combined with Brain Metastases.].
BACKGROUND
Treatments to brain metastases in patients of NSCLC include operation, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, while the disease control rate of brain lesions is not so good, the media survival time is 4-6 months. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib can get into blood-brain barrier as reported, and it is used as a effetive method to control brain metastases. The aim of this clinical observation was to evaluate the efficacy and adverse reactions after concomitant therapy of erlotinib and whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) in patients of NSCLC with brain metastasis.


METHODS
This was a retrospective study. From 2006 to 2009, There were 12 cases of NSCLC with brain metastases. They were accepted the concomitant therapy of erlotinib and WBRT. The dose of erlotinib was 150 mg/d and the radiotherapy dose was (3 000-3 600) cGy/(10-12) F. After 2 months of radiotherapy the early efficacy was evaluabed.


RESULTS
The control rate of brain metastases was 91.7% with PR 66.7%, SD 25%. The major adverse reactions were skin rash (75%) and fatigue (91.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
The effect of the concomitant of erlotinib and WBRT in patients of NSCLC with brain metastases is better than WBRT alone, and the concomitant therapy is well tolerated.
Zhao
Jing
J
Tongji Hospital Cancer Centre, Tongji Medical College Affiliated, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
Fu
Qiang
Q
Zhang
Lihong
L