Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Jul 18;8(41):71223-71233.
doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.19333. eCollection 2017 Sep 19.

State-of-the-art considerations in small cell lung cancer brain metastases

Rimas V Lukas  1 , Vinai Gondi  2 , David O Kamson  3 , Priya Kumthekar  1 , Ravi Salgia  4
Affiliations
Review

State-of-the-art considerations in small cell lung cancer brain metastases

Rimas V Lukas et al. Oncotarget. .

Abstract

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) frequently leads to development of brain metastases. These unfortunately continue to be associated with short survival. Substantial advances have been made in our understanding of the underlying biology of disease. This understanding on the background of previously evaluated and currently utilized therapeutic treatments can help guide the next steps in investigations into this disease with the potential to influence future treatments.

Design: A comprehensive review of the literature covering epidemiology, pathophysiology, imaging characteristics, prognosis, and therapeutic management of SCLC brain metastases was performed.

Results: SCLC brain metastases continue to have a poor prognosis. Both unique aspects of SCLC brain metastases as well as features seen more universally across other solid tumor brain metastases are discussed. Systemic therapeutic studies and radiotherapeutic approaches are reviewed.

Conclusions: A clearer understanding of SCLC brain metastases will help lay the framework for studies which will hopefully translate into meaningful therapeutic options for these patients.

Keywords: brain metastases; chemotherapy; pathophysiology; radiation therapy; small cell lung cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Dr. Lukas has served on advisory boards for Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Novocure, and Ziopharm and has received honoraria for an internal lecture/presentation for Abbvie and support for meeting travel from Roche. Dr Gondi has served on advisory board for INSYS Biotherapeutics and received speakers honoraria from Novocure. Dr. Kumthekar has received honoraria for serving as a consultant for Abbvie and Angiochem. All other authors have nothing to disclose.

References

    1. Chen LF, Patel JD, Lukas RV. Advances in brain metastases presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2016 Annual Meeting: part I. Future Oncol. 2016;12:2535–2538. - PubMed
    1. Chen LF, Patel JD, Lukas RV. Advances in brain metastases presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2016 Annual Meeting: part II. Future Oncol. 2016;12:2669–2672. - PubMed
    1. Lukas RV, Gabikian P, Garza M, Chmura SJ. Treatment of brain metastases. Oncology. 2014;87:321–329. - PubMed
    1. Lin X, DeAngelis LM. Treatment of brain metastases. J Clin Oncol. 2015;33:3475–3484. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bertolini F, Spallanzani A, Fontana A, Depenni R, Luppi G. Brain metastases: an overview. CNS Oncol. 2015;4:37–46. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources