ABSTRACT
We report the case of a 48-year-old female patient with HER2-positive and hormone receptor-negative breast cancer with multiple liver metastases. She underwent 6 cycles of FEC followed by docetaxel plus trastuzumab (TZB), resulting in a clinical complete response. After 15 cycles of a TZB-containing regimen, she complained of dizziness and nausea, and imaging examinations revealed multiple brain metastases. Whole-brain irradiation(33.6 Gy) was performed, and the chemotherapy regimen was changed to lapatinib (LAP: orally at 1,250 mg/day, every day) and capecitabine (CAP: orally at 2,000 mg/m2, every day for 2 weeks, followed by a 1-week rest interval, as 1 cycle). After 6 weeks of the new treatment, magnetic resonance imaging revealed marked shrinkage of brain metastases. A clinical complete response was maintained for 19 months. While brain metastasis is an important problem with treatment with TZB, LAP is drawing attention because of its ability to pass the blood-brain barrier because of its small molecular weight. LAP/CAP combination therapy may be an effective treatment option for brain metastases of HER2-positive breast cancer in which TZB essentially has no effect.
