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… Click to show full 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 benefit 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 specifically at both the safety and efficacy 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 efficacy 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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