Control of brain metastases with alectinib in anaplastic lymphoma kinase-rearranged lung cancer

Brain metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer remains a challenge to physicians. It occurs in 30% of patients with advanced stage adenocarcinoma of lung and is often regarded as the ominous sign of disease progression and death. Alectinib is likely to be a promising agent, even after the failure of crizotinib and ceritinib, for patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) -driven non-small cell lung cancer with brain metastasis, resulting in a durable response for both intracranial and extra-cranial diseases.