Long-term stabilization of leptomeningeal disease with whole-brain radiation therapy in a patient with metastatic melanoma treated with vemurafenib

We present a patient with metastatic BRAF-mutated melanoma who achieved long-term stabilization of leptomeningeal disease (LMD) with sequential whole-brain radiation therapy and vemurafenib. A 53-year-old woman with melanoma that harbored the BRAF V600E mutation and had that metastasized to multiple lymph nodes, lungs, breast, and subcutaneous tissue had developed symptomatic LMD 16 months after starting vemurafenib treatment despite achieving a substantial response at the existing metastatic sites. Vemurafenib was discontinued for 7 days, she received whole-brain radiation therapy (30 Gy in 10 fractions), and 7 days after completing the radiation therapy, she resumed vemurafenib therapy. The neurologic symptoms improved significantly, and a cerebrospinal fluid examination revealed disappearance of melanoma cells. She remained alive with radiologically stable LMD for at least 18 months after the whole-brain radiation therapy.