Long-term treatment with ALK inhibitors for postoperative recurrence of ALK-rearranged lung cancer

We encountered a 40-year-old female patient who developed, in chronological order, carcinomatous pleuritis and lymphangitis, multiple lymph node metastases, brain metastases, and intramedullary spinal cord metastases after resection of lung adenocarcinoma followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4) and the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion gene, variant 2 was identified in her cancer cells. By changing the ALK inhibitors from the 1st to 3rd generation each time when metastases were identified and incorporating local treatments in a timely fashion, such as metastasectomy or radiation therapy, she has survived for more than 11 years since the start of treatment, while maintaining a good Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS) score of 0. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which ALK fusion variant 2 was identified and prolonged disease control was achieved with the continuous prescription of ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and timely consolidative treatments.