Jen Mercado

[Jenny Mercado]

My first time here, I lost my best friend with lung cancer prior to Covid, now it’s my husband who’s 
been diagnosed last Oct 2021, and now in progression suspecting lympangitic carcinomatosis and his mets on the brain has increased after 16 months on tagrisso

He is now on chemo from last Monday 23 May, combination of Pemetrexed & Carboplatin, very  concern, am not seeing any positive feedback with this combination amongst warriors of the same mutation who has done it.

[Tom Galli]

Jenny,

Welcome here.

Progression after Targeted Therapy is a major pain. Am I correct in assuming your husband has adenocarcinoma with EGFR exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) substitution mutations? In the US, Osimertinib (Tagrisso) is used for first-line therapy with Stage IV diagnosis. I don't have actual experience with Tagrisso because my diagnosis was squamous cell and Targeted Therapies have not been developed for this form of lung cancer.

Let's call for the wisdom of the Forum. Can anyone provide experience with progression after Tagrisso?

Hang in there Jenny and stay the course.

Tom

[LilyMir]

Sorry about your husband's diagnosis. I don't know much about progression except that people advise to have a new biopsy to check if/what new mutations developed. Tagrisso should control the original mutation but chances are a new mutation developed. There are a number of clinical trials combining Tagrisso with other drugs, some probably include other mutation drugs combo. I would ask your husband's doctors about all that and maybe also try posting Qs on the EGFR Resistors  group on Facebook, many there dealt with progression. A second opinion is important too at this stage.

BTW, can't they zap the brain mets with gamma knife or the like?  Is he a candidate for immuotherapy (some PDL1)?