Use of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor as neoadjuvant therapy for non-small cell lung cancer: A case report

We report here a 66-year-old woman diagnosed with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma of the right lung cT4N2M0. The patient was from the Philippines, had never smoked, and tested positive for an EGFR mutation. She received gefitinib as neoadjuvant therapy for two months and displayed a partial response. The tumour was resected by performing a right pneumonectomy. The residual viable tumour accounted for less than 10%. Adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin-taxol was administered for four cycles. Fifteen months post-surgery, two brain metastases were found. Gefitinib was prescribed, and one month later complete radiological response was assessed. The patient remains asymptomatic and without visible disease four months later. Controlled randomised trials are needed to clarify the role of these target therapies in the neoadjuvant setting.