Multiple Brain Metastases in a Patient with ROS1 Fusion-Positive Lung Adenocarcinoma as a Disease Flare due to Crizotinib Cessation Caused by Disseminated Aseptic Inflammation from Crizotinib-Associated Renal Cysts: A Case Report

Abstract

Rapid tumor growth after cessation of molecularly targeted drugs, called “disease flare,” may occur and affect the prognosis of lung cancer. However, this phenomenon has never been reported in ROS proto-oncogene 1 (ROS1) fusion-positive lung adenocarcinoma. Herein, we report a disease flare in a patient with ROS1 fusion-positive lung adenocarcinoma. A 60-year-old female was diagnosed with stage IVA ROS1 fusion-positive lung adenocarcinoma via bronchoscopy. Although crizotinib, an ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, achieved a partial response, a mass lesion appeared in the patient’s right kidney 12 months after starting crizotinib, which was diagnosed pathologically as crizotinib-associated renal cysts (CARCs). Given that readministration of crizotinib repeatedly induced CARC-like aseptic inflammation that appeared to be disseminated around surgical site, crizotinib treatment had to be abandoned. Around 25 days after crizotinib cessation, she was referred to the emergency department with a convulsive seizure and hemiparesis due to new, rapidly growing brain metastases. Whole-brain irradiation and administration of another ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, entrectinib, markedly ameliorated the metastases and improved hemiparesis. This has been the first report of a disease flare after crizotinib cessation due to CARCs in a patient with ROS1 fusion-positive lung adenocarcinoma. Attention should be paid to disease flare, especially in the brain, when molecularly targeted medication is stopped due to adverse events in ROS1 fusion-positive lung adenocarcinoma. Switching to drugs that penetrate the blood-brain barrier could overcome disease flare in the brain.