The outcomes after gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) were retrospectively analysed in patients with brain metastases from anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement-positive and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to evaluate the efficacy, safety and difference for overall survival and local tumor control. ALK rearrangement-positive NSCLC patients tended to have significantly longer survival, but had higher incidence of new intracranial metastases due to long-term survival after GKRS, compared with EGFR mutation-negative and driver gene mutation-negative NSCLC patients. GKRS induced significantly satisfactory local tumor control in driver gene mutation-positive tumors but GKRS-related complication frequency was higher, especially in ALK-positive NSCLC patients. Therefore, more careful imaging follow-up is necessary after GKRS for patients with driver gene mutation-positive NSCLC. READ ARTICLE
Cureus DOI:10.7759/cureus.20398
Authors: Matsunaga S and Shuto T
Objectives: Results of the ALEX trial demonstrated that alectinib decreased the risk of Central Nervous System (CNS) progression and prolonged progression-free survival of NSCLC ALK+ patients, compared with crizotinib. The objective of this study is to compare the economic burden of CNS progression with alectinib versus crizotinib, on the Brazilian private healthcare system. Conclusions: Alectinib can potentially decrease the economic burden of CNS metastasis of NSCLC ALK+ patients in the Brazilian private healthcare system, compared with the current standard of care. READ ARTICLE
Value in Health DOI:10.1016/j.jval.2019.04.253
Authors: D.Kashiura, M.Santos, L.Carmo, R.Leme-Souza