A Case of Binocular Metastatic Choroidal Tumor Originating from Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma Successfully Treated with Molecular Target Therapy

Abstract

The occurrence of ocular metastasis from lung cancer is uncommon. In our current case, we report on a 64-year-old male patient found to have metastatic lesions in both choroids after being diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma. As the patient was found to have a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), he was treated with the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR TKI), afatinib. However, the treatment response suggested the presence of a progressive disease. Thus, due to cancerous meningitis, the patient’s treatment was changed from afatinib to erlotinib, in addition to adding bevacizumab. Although the general condition of the patient did not change, improvement was noted for the choroidal metastasis. Moreover, the drug change also resulted in an improvement of the visual power of both eyes. Therefore, the results for this patient suggest that systemic administration of erlotinib and bevacizumab may be an effective treatment that leads to morphological and functional improvement in choroidal metastasis cases.