Treatment Advances in Lung Cancer with Leptomeningeal Metastasis

Title:Treatment Advances in Lung Cancer with Leptomeningeal Metastasis

Volume: 24

Author(s): Yuan Meng, Meiying Zhu, Jie Yang, Xuerui Wang, Yangyuying Liang, Minghui Yu, Longhui Li and Fanming Kong*

Affiliation:

• Department of Oncology, First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Anshanxi Road, Nankai District, 300193Tianjin, China
• National Clinical Research Center for Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China

Keywords: Leptomeningeal metastasis, Lung cancer, Treatment advances, Targeted therapy, Immunotherapy, Radiotherapy

Abstract: Leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) is a serious and often fatal complication in patients with advanced lung cancer, resulting in significant neurological deficits, decreased quality of life, and a poor prognosis.

This article summarizes current research advances in treating lung cancer with meningeal metastases, discusses clinical challenges, and explores treatment strategies.

Through an extensive review of relevant clinical trial reports and screening of recent conference abstracts, we collected clinical data on treating patients with lung cancer with meningeal metastases to provide an overview of the current research progress.

Exciting progress has been made by focusing on specific mutations within lung cancer, including the use of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors or inhibitors for anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene rearrangement, such as osimertinib, alectinib, and lorlatinib. These targeted therapies have shown impressive results in penetrating the central nervous system (CNS). Regarding whole-brain radiotherapy, there is currently some controversy among investigators regarding its effect on survival. Additionally, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated reliable clinical benefits due to their ability to retain anticancer activity in CNS metastases. Moreover, combination therapy shows promise in providing further treatment possibilities.

Considerable progress has been made in the clinical research of lung cancer with LM. However, the sample size of prospective clinical trials investigating LM for lung cancer is still limited, with most reports being retrospective. Developing more effective management protocols for metastatic LM in lung cancer remains an ongoing challenge for the future.

Cite this article as:

Meng Yuan, Zhu Meiying, Yang Jie, Wang Xuerui, Liang Yangyuying, Yu Minghui, Li Longhui and Kong Fanming*, Treatment Advances in Lung Cancer with Leptomeningeal Metastasis, Current Cancer Drug Targets 2024; 24 () . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/0115680096276133231201061114