Long‐term survival of a patient with carcinomatous meningitis caused by non‐small cell lung cancer: The advantage of absence of primary tumor recurrence

The prognosis of carcinomatous meningitis is very poor, although epidermal growth factor receptor‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors have recently improved it. A 56‐year‐old woman was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the lung and underwent left lobectomy. Four years after the operation, she was diagnosed with carcinomatous meningitis. There was no recurrence of lung cancer at the time of initial carcinomatous meningitis diagnosis. Epidermal growth factor receptor‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors were not used for this patient, because epidermal growth factor receptor mutations were not detected. She was treated by whole‐brain radiation therapy and intrathecal chemotherapy, resulting in a very long‐term survival of 889 days (29.6 months) from diagnosis of carcinomatous meningitis. We can expect long‐term survival in patients with carcinomatous meningitis from non‐small cell lung cancer, especially in patients without the primary tumor recurrence at the time of diagnosis, even without treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor‐tyrosine kinase inhibitors.