Durable remission of leptomeningeal metastasis of breast cancer with letrozole: A case report and implications of biomarkers on treatment selection

Abstract

We report a breast cancer patient with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LM) who showed an excellent objective and subjective response to letrozole, with a progression-free survival of 16 months. We think that despite the poor prognosis and short survival of patients with LM, early diagnosis and treatment with appropriate hormonal manipulation may improve the outcome and achieve prolonged palliation in selected hormone-positive breast cancer patients with LM. Possible clues predicting the response were also evaluated in the context of literature data. © 2003 Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research.