Yang HY, Xia YQ, Hou YJ, Xue P, Zhu SJ, Lu DR. Chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab for small cell lung cancer with brain metastases: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(2): 405-411 [PMID: 38313643 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i2.405]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dian-Rong Lu, Doctor, PhD, Chief Physician, Professor, Department of Oncology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 6 Huajiadi Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102, China. ludianrong@aliyun.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Hong-Yu Yang, Yu-Jia Hou, Peng Xue, Shi-Jie Zhu, Dian-Rong Lu, Department of Oncology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100102, China
Hong-Yu Yang, Department of Oncology, Tianjin University of Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300000, China
Yu-Qing Xia, Department of Electrothermal Acupuncture, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100102, China
Yu-Qing Xia, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Sihui Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China
Author contributions: Yang HY drafted the manuscript; Xia YQ and Hou YJ reviewed the literature and participated in drafting the manuscript; Xue P and Zhu SJ and Lu DR revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; All authors have approved the final manuscript.
Supported byYu-Qing Xia Famous Old Chinese Medicine Heritage Workshop of “3+3” Project of Traditional Chinese Medicine Heritage in Beijing, Jing Zhong Yi Ke Zi (2021), No. 73; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81973640; Nursery Program of Wangjing Hospital, Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. WJYY-YJKT-2022-05; China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Wangjing Hospital High-Level Chinese Medicine Hospital Construction Project Chinese Medicine Clinical Evidence-Based Research: The Evidence-Based Research of Electrothermal Acupuncture for Relieving Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients With Malignant Tumor, No. WYYY-XZKT-2023-20.
Informed consent statement: The patient signed an informed consent form before receiving treatment and agreed to publish the case.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dian-Rong Lu, Doctor, PhD, Chief Physician, Professor, Department of Oncology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, No. 6 Huajiadi Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102, China. ludianrong@aliyun.com
Received: September 29, 2023 Peer-review started: September 29, 2023 First decision: December 18, 2023 Revised: December 18, 2023 Accepted: December 26, 2023 Article in press: December 26, 2023 Published online: January 16, 2024 Processing time: 91 Days and 1.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a common and aggressive subtype of lung cancer. It is characterized by rapid growth and a high mortality rate. Approximately 10% of patients with SCLC present with brain metastases at the time of diagnosis, which is associated with a median survival of 5 mo. This study aimed to summarize the effect of bevacizumab on the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival of patients with brain metastasis of SCLC.
CASE SUMMARY
A 62-year-old man was referred to our hospital in February 2023 because of dizziness and numbness of the right lower extremity without headache or fever for more than four weeks. The patient was diagnosed with limited-stage SCLC. He received 8 cycles of chemotherapy combined with maintenance bevacizumab therapy and achieved a PFS of over 7 mo.
CONCLUSION
The combination of bevacizumab and irinotecan effectively alleviated brain metastasis in SCLC and prolonged PFS.
Core Tip: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for approximately 13%-15% of all lung cancer patients. A five-year survival rate of less than 7 percent makes it one of the deadliest cancers. Compared to Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma, SCLC has a faster doubling time in the early stages and is more likely to spread widely. Therefore, 60%-70% of SCLC is diagnosed as extensive stage at initial diagnosis. SCLC cells also show a high tendency of metastasis to the central nervous system, and 10% of patients have brain metastasis at the first visit. Here, we report a patient with extensive stage-small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) and brain metastases who received four lines of treatment. We used bevacizumab in combination with irinotecan as a post-fourth-line therapy in an elderly man and achieved a significant partial response.
