Complete response of radioresistant brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer with temozolomide: A case report and literature review

RATIONALE: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases (BMs) have been found as subjects of poor prognosis. Whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), surgery, and stereotactic radiosurgery, epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI), or some combinations are the most commonly employed strategies for the treatment of treatments BMs. However, some patients are resistant to all these treatments. PATIENT CONCERNS: We present an NSCLC patient with progression of BMs after treatment with WBRT and EGFR-TKIs. The patient was diagnosed with multiple metastases on July 9, 2014, and treated with docetaxel plus cisplatin chemotherapy followed with gefitinib as the maintenance therapy. The patient showed recurrence of BMs after 8-months of chemotherapy. WBRT with 30 Gy was administrated in 10 fractions. Tumor progression of the brain was diagnosed with an magnetic resonance imaging scan after 2-months of WBRT. DIAGNOSES: The patient was diagnosed as pulmonary adenocarcinoma with diffuse metastases in both lungs and multiple metastases in bone and brain. Progression of BMs was confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging. INTERVENTIONS: This patient was administered temozolomide (150 mg/m(2)/d for 5 days every 28-day cycle). As a whole, 6 cycles were performed after the progression of BMs from August 2015. OUTCOMES: The patient got complete brain remission and lived without discomfort. The intracranial lesion did not progress until the progression of the lung lesion and led to death on February 20, 2019. The intracranial progression-free survival was 42 months, whereas the overall survival was 55 months. LESSONS: For patients with NSCLC and BMs, temozolomide can be used as a treatment option, especially in patients with EGFR-TKIs resistance or without driver mutations.