Safety Study of Radiotherapy and Concurrent Erlotinib (Tarceva®) for Brain Metastases From a Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2007-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Lung cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Brain metastases manifest as the first
site of disease failure in between 15-30% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer
(NSCLC). The standard treatment for patients with multiple brain metastases is whole brain
radiotherapy but this results in only a modest survival of 3-6 months. Drugs that can enhance
the effect of cranial irradiation (radiosensitizers) may improve the the response rates.
Erlotinib (Tarceva) is an oral agent that has been registered for treatment in patients with
metastatic NSCLC. Erlotinib has shown tumor activity in patients presenting with brain
metastases, and preclinical studies show that it may be a radiosensitizer. As a prelude to
studies investigating the combination of Erlotinib and cranial radiotherapy, the present
study will be performed to evaluate the safety of combining both these treatments.