Osimertinib as induction therapy for oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutation: a case report

BACKGROUND: The role of surgery in combined modality therapy for selected stage IV oligometastatic (OM) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still controversial. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) significantly improved the survival in adjuvant therapy in metastatic NSCLC but has rare evidence in inductive setting. This is the first case report about uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery after induction therapy of TKI for OM-NSCLC. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 50-year-old Chinese woman presented to hospital with headache and blurred vision and was diagnosed with an intracranial tumor. The craniotomy confirmed the metastasis from primary lung cancer. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) showed the mass located in the left upper lobe and left hilar lymph node involvement. Next-generation sequencing found an EGFR mutation (exon 21 p.L858R missense), and osimertinib, a third-generation TKI, was used 80 mg per day as the induction therapy due to the EGFR mutation detected from the metastatic tumor. A favorable treatment response was observed of the lung tumor with lymph node regression, followed by uniportal thoracoscopic left upper lobectomy and systematic lymphadenectomy. The postoperative pathology evaluated both the lung lesion and lymph nodes and confirmed the OM status of this patient. No complications were observed and postoperative osimertinib 80 mg per day continued. CONCLUSIONS: Our case suggests that the role of surgery should be appropriately reevaluated for EGFR-mutated OM-NSCLC with the emerging development of EGFR-TKI.