Nintedanib—A case of treating concurrent idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and non‐small cell lung cancer

Treating advanced lung cancer in patients with pulmonary fibrosis can be challenging due to increased risks of drug‐induced and radiation‐induced pneumonitis. We present the case of a 78‐year‐old female with stage IIIB lung adenocarcinoma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Following partial response to platinum‐based chemotherapy, she was started on maintenance pemetrexed, but this was stopped due to bone marrow suppression and kidney injury. She received no further chemotherapy. Nintedanib was subsequently commenced for treatment of IPF. Remarkably, progress imaging at 2 years showed further regression of her lung adenocarcinoma, with stability of IPF. Nintedanib is a multi‐target tyrosine kinase inhibitor with anti‐cancer effects due to inhibition of angiogenesis. Nintedanib with chemotherapy has shown improvements in survival in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This case report and literature review discuss the effectiveness of nintedanib in treating patients with concurrent IPF and NSCLC, in particular for patients poorly tolerant of conventional chemotherapy.