Osimertinib showed efficacy on contralateral multiple ground-glass nodules after segmentectomy for lung adenocarcinoma harboring primary EGFR-T790M mutation: a case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Multiple ground-glass nodules (mGGNs) in the lung has been defined as synchronous multiple primary lung cancer (SMPLC), it is has been very difficult challenging to differentiate SMPLC from intrapulmonary metastases, and its treatment remains controversial. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case simultaneously involving mGGNs and lung adenocarcinoma harboring primary EGFR-T790M mutation, in which the patient underwent the radical resection of lesions in the left upper lung, and continued the osimertinib treatment for the residual mGGNs in all lobes of the right lung. These mGGNs displayed different responses to osimertinib. CONCLUSIONS: We reported a successful strategy on the postoperative treatment for mGGNs. For those that cannot be completely resected, the chemotherapy, radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy have been performed instead. The EGFR-TKI therapy strategy showed significant advantages, but how to achieve even better therapeutic effect needs more researches.