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Transcript

Managing brain metastases is a big concern for lung cancer patients. The doctors discuss the drawbacks of whole brain radiotherapy and the fact that there are still unknowns regarding more targeted stereotactic radiosurgery.

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This is the second of two parts in the Reference Library by Dr. Gadgeel on small cell lung cancer.

Patients with Limited Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

Brain metastases from NSCLC is almost a field of its own. This is because of the relatively high frequency with which metastases appear, the fact that they may return, even after treatment with whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT), and that our chemotherapy has long been considered to be ineffective against them. In fact, the extent of them as a problem is reflected in the number of thread questions on this subject in the GRACE forum.

A novel agent called motexafin gadolinium (MGd), with a marketed name of Xcytrin, has been studied as a potential neuroprotectant as well as radiosensitizer that may allow patients with brain metastases to do better when it as added to whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) than they would with WBRT alone.