Journal: Zhonghua zhong liu za zhi [Chinese journal of oncology]
This article is a multidisciplinary expert consensus on the diagnosis, treatment, and clinical research design for meningeal (leptomeningeal) metastasis, a severe complication of advanced malignancies with poor prognosis.
Key points:
- Scope: Summarizes current diagnostic criteria and therapeutic options for meningeal metastasis, and proposes standards for clinical trial design in this setting.
- Conventional treatments: Reviews the roles and indications of:
- Surgical intervention
- Radiotherapy
- Systemic chemotherapy
- Intrathecal chemotherapy
- Emerging therapies: Highlights the growing importance and potential of:
- Targeted therapies
- Immunotherapies
- Clinical research design:
- Emphasizes the need to standardize treatment response evaluation and trial endpoints specific to meningeal metastasis.
- Recommends randomized, blinded trial designs whenever feasible.
- Encourages integrating biomarker analyses and applying appropriate statistical methods to improve the robustness of findings.
- Overall aim: To improve the quality and efficiency of clinical trials in meningeal metastasis and strengthen the evidence base guiding its management.