An Austrian study led by MedUni Vienna showed a partial or complete regression of brain metastasis in breast cancer patients after treatment with trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-Dxd).
The study, published Aug. 8 in Nature Medicine, reports T-Dxd shrank metastasis in 73 percent of patients and eradicated metastasis from brain scans in two of 15 patients. Researchers also found there was no deterioration in patient brain function or quality of life during treatment.
T-Dxd is a combination antibody-chemotherapy drug and is approved to treat metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer in Europe. Before this study, it was not known if the drug was effective against brain metastasis.
"Our findings open up entirely new avenues for clinical research and the treatment of brain metastases in breast cancer — and possibly other types of cancer as well," said study author Matthias Preusser, PhD.
Read the study here.