• Wei Guo Hu, Yi Ming Weng, Yi Dong, Xiang Pan Li, and Qi-Bin Song.
• Department of Oncology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Nov 1; 96 (46): e7358.

RationaleApatinib is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, which has observed to be effective and safe in refractory radiation-induced brain edema, like Avastin did. Till now, there is no case report after apatinib came in the market.Patient ConcernsTwo patients who received brain radiotherapy developed clinical manifestations of brain edema, including dizziness, headache, limb activity disorder, and so on.DiagnosesTwo patients were both diagnosed as refractory radiation-induced brain edema.InterventionsTwo patients received apatinib (500 mg/day) for 2 and 4 weeks.OutcomesTwo patients got symptomatic improvements from apatinib in different degrees. Magnetic resonance imaging after apatinib treatments showed that compared with pre-treatment imaging, the perilesional edema reduced dramatically. However, the toxicity of apatinib was controllable and tolerable.LessonsApatinib can obviously relieve the symptoms of refractory radiation-induced brain edema and improve the quality of life, which offers a new method for refractory radiation-induced brain edema in clinical practices. But that still warrants further investigation in the prospective study.

14 keywords...

hide…