Immunotherapy provides a complete response to stage IV lung cancer

A recent case report was published in Onconscience (Volume 11) dated October 8, 2024, titled “Complete and Long-Term Response to Immunotherapy in Stage IV Non-Petite Cell Lung Cancer with Brain Metastases.”

As highlighted in the summary of this report, approximately 20% of lung cancer patients have brain metastases at the time of diagnosis, which is associated with a worse prognosis and negatively affects the quality of life. The emergence of recent systemic treatment options, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and targeted therapies, has changed the prognosis of patients with stage IV lung cancer. However, the impact of treatment sequencing – both local and systemic – in patients with stage IV lung cancer and brain metastases remains unclear.

Researchers Mafalda Costa and Helena Magalhães from the Department of Medical Oncology at Pedro Hispano Hospital in Matosinhos, Portugal, present the case of a 51-year-old man diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and brain metastases. After whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), the patient achieved a complete intracranial and extracranial response after second-line treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Currently, his overall survival is 87 months and progression-free survival is 73 months, while maintaining optimal quality of life.

“We hypothesized that sequencing WBRT and immunotherapy treatment could explain this unexpected result.”