Better treatments needed for breast cancer brain metastases
Mené sur 121 patientes atteintes d'un cancer du sein HER2+ avec métastases cérébrales, cet essai randomisé international de phase II évalue l'efficacité et la toxicité de l'afatinib, seul ou en combinaison avec la vinorelbine
Up to half of patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer will develop brain metastases. Radiation therapy (and surgery for patients who present with a single lesion) remains the standard of care on initial diagnosis; however, treatment of subsequent progression is based mainly on expert opinion rather than the results of well controlled trials. Although median survival after a diagnosis of brain metastasis now exceeds 2 years in patients with good performance status and HER2-positive disease, this outcome has resulted in patients who live long enough to have substantial morbidity from additional CNS progression and long-term effects of radiation.
The Lancet Oncology , commentaire, 2014