Immunotherapy benefits for large brain metastases in non-small cell lung cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with large brain metastases (BrM) defined as >2 cm in diameter historically face grim prognoses. With immunotherapy emerging as a promising avenue for BrM management and being commonly used in NSCLC, its application in addressing large BrM remains underexplored.

This retrospective study conducted across the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Network aimed to assess the efficacy of immunotherapy in non-biomarker driven NSCLC patients with large BrM following initial treatment.

Thirty-six patients were included, all of whom underwent neurosurgery and/or radiation before commencing immunotherapy. The median intracranial progression-free survival (PFS) was 9.2 months and the median overall survival (OS) reached 31 months. Utilizing multivariable Cox penalized regression, the intracranial PFS hazard ratio (HR) was 0.07 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.02-0.26) for patients who received at least 90 days of immunotherapy compared to those who did not. Each additional 30 days of immunotherapy was associated with an OS HR 0.77 (95% CI, 0.67-0.90).

This real-world data highlights the potential of immunotherapy in large BrM NSCLC patients, a population often excluded from clinical trials. This study contributes insights that can inform future treatment approaches, emphasizing the need for further exploration of immunotherapy's role in enhancing outcomes for this challenging patient population.