Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2023; 11(22): 5322-5328
Published online Aug 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i22.5322
Pathological complete response to neoadjuvant alectinib in unresectable anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive non-small cell lung cancer: A case report
Lu-Ming Wang, Peng Zhao, Xu-Qi Sun, Feng Yan, Qian Guo
Lu-Ming Wang, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310002, Zhejiang Province, China
Peng Zhao, Xu-Qi Sun, Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310002, Zhejiang Province, China
Feng Yan, Qian Guo, Department of Medical Oncology, The First People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Lin’an District, Hangzhou 311300, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Wang LM and Zhao P contributed to manuscript writing and editing, and data collection; Sun XQ and Yan F contributed to data analysis; Guo Q contributed to conceptualization and supervision; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript has been prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qian Guo, MD, Doctor, Department of Medical Oncology, The First People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Lin’an District, No. 548 Yijin Street, Jincheng Street, Lin’an District, Hangzhou 311300, Zhejiang Province, China. gqwy2007@163.com
Received: March 20, 2023
Peer-review started: March 20, 2023
First decision: June 15, 2023
Revised: June 28, 2023
Accepted: July 7, 2023
Article in press: July 7, 2023
Published online: August 6, 2023
Processing time: 135 Days and 19.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Whether neoadjuvant alectinib can serve as a conversion therapy in patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unclear. We report the first case of ALK-positive stage IIIB NSCLC in which a pathological complete response was achieved after neoadjuvant alectinib therapy. Subsequently, left upper lobectomy with mediastinal lymphadenectomy was performed. Postoperatively, alectinib is being continued as adjuvant therapy with a recurrence-free survival of 29 mo as of date. This case report highlights the feasibility of alectinib as neoadjuvant therapy for unresectable ALK-positive locally advanced NSCLC.