GRACE is happy to present the 9th and final video in our series ASCO 2016 Lung Cancer Roundtable, Highlights and New Approaches in Lung Cancer.  Featuring Jack West, MD, Janet Freeman-Daily, Everett Vokes, MD, and Suresh Ramalingam, MD, this roundtable discussion, moderated by Dr. West, highlights the newest and most intriguing discussions from ASCO 2016.

Drs. West, Vokes and Ramalingam, along with patient advocate Janet Freeman-Daily, discuss new trials of targeted therapies to treat leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis is cancer that has spread to the coating of the brain and spinal cord. In the past, prognosis has been bad. But now doctors are learning of effective treatments to deal with this issue.

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I met DC in April. He was 62 years old and was principal of a Montessori school. He had smoked a half pack a day for three years in college (which makes him a former/light smoker in my book) and was in fairly good health until the December before when he developed a cough. His cough didn't get better and thanks to all the talk about lung cancer screening, he requested a chest x-ray. The x-ray revealed a mass, which led to CT scanning.

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, also referred to as carcinomatous meningitis, is an uncommon but certainly not rare complication in lung cancer that I consider to be among the most dreaded. This occurs when cancer cells are in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that bathe and cushion the brain and spinal cord, and cancer cells deposit on the meninges, the lining around the brain and spinal cord.