Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors with conventional chemotherapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

We report a Chinese male patient with advanced stage lung squamous cell carcinoma who developed brain metastases after responding to treatment comprising six cycles of conventional chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin. The patient was then treated with oral erlotinib (150 mg/day) and whole-brain radiation therapy followed by four cycles of docetaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy. The patient then received gefitinib (250 mg/day) as a maintenance therapy until the end of the follow-up period. In this patient, progression-free survival, defined as the interval from the initiation of first-line chemotherapy to the cessation of erlotinib due to progressive disease or death from any cause, was 3 months. Overall survival, defined as the interval from the initiation of first-line chemotherapy to death from any cause, was 75 months. Erlotinib was well tolerated in combination with whole-brain radiation therapy and a favorable objective response rate was observed. Furthermore, targeted drug treatment warrants consideration in patients with a negative epidermal growth factor receptor mutation status and male patients with a history of smoking.