Original Article


A pooled analysis of advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer patients with stable treated brain metastases in two phase II trials receiving bevacizumab and pemetrexed as second-line therapy

Matthew A. Gubens, Jody C. Chuang, Wallace Akerley, Corey J. Langer, Christelle Clément- Duchêne, Melanie San Pedro-Salcedo, A. Dimitrios Colevas, Konstantin Dragnev, Mark A. Socinski, Heather A. Wakelee

Abstract

Background: Brain metastases are a common complication of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients with brain metastases were excluded from the registration trials of bevacizumab that showed a survival bene t with the use of angiogenesis inhibition.
Methods: In this study, we pooled data from two separate trials designed to evaluate the risk of central nervous system (CNS) hemorrhage in patients with stable treated brain metastases to look speci cally at both the safety and ef cacy of bevacizumab and pemetrexed when used as second-line treatment in NSCLC patients with stable treated brain metastases.
Results: We report acceptable safety and promising ef cacy from our analysis.
Conclusions: Our study adds further evidence of safety of administering pemetrexed and bevacizumab to patients with stable brain metastases. There is increasing roles for systemic therapies to treat stable brain metastases for patients with advanced NSCLC.

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