Optimal management of brain metastases in oncogenic-driven non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Abstract

Brain metastases are common events in the natural course of many advanced solid cancers like breast, lung and renal cancer or melanoma with a cumulative risk of 10-30% in adults [1-3]. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is associated with an increased risk for the development of brain metastases and the prognosis until recently has been poor except for some patients' subgroups and depending on the disease-specific GPA prognostic factors [4]. For patients receiving only best supportive care, average survival is about 3 months and it is assumed that through additional whole brain radiotherapy average survival may be improved up to 6-9 months in selected patients [5]. In recent years, complex treatment strategies for different solid tumors have been developed and this has impacted on the general management of brain metastases. Most of the studies on brain metastases have included different histological subtypes and therefore have made tumor- specific recommendations difficult. In this review, we discuss the current evidence on management of brain metastases and incorporate specific recent data on oncogenic-driven NSCLC in order to suggest recommendations on the optimal management of brain metastases in this subgroup of NSCLC where formal level I evidence is lacking.