Anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer patients with brain metastases: a meta-analysis

Background: Patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements are particularly prone to development of brain metastases (BMs). Newer anti-ALK treatments have demonstrated far greater intracranial efficacy. Here we performed a meta-analysis with the aim of assessing the efficacy of ALK inhibitors on BMs. Conclusions: Despite the limitation from lack of published clinical data, our results showed that ALK inhibitors are effective at the brain site regardless of previous anti-ALK treatments, systemic therapy with ALK inhibitors should be considered as a preferred approach over for controlling BMs from ALK-positive NSCLC. READ ARTICLE

Journal of Thoracic Disease
DOI:10.21037/jtd.2019.03.76

Authors: Zhiguo Zhang, Hongwei Guo, Yuanli Lu, Wei Hao, Lei Han