TY - JOUR T1 - A patient with complex multiple genomic <em>ALK</em> alterations JF - Thorax JO - Thorax SP - 383 LP - 385 DO - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2015-207950 VL - 71 IS - 4 AU - Xin Liu AU - Shawn J Rice AU - Carlos A Jamis-Dow AU - Catherine Abendroth AU - Siraj Ali AU - Salah Almokadem AU - Chandra P Belani Y1 - 2016/04/01 UR - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/71/4/383.abstract N2 - Lung cancer is a disease with a heterogeneous complement of mutations.1 Although point mutations and deletions are among the most common types of mutations in lung cancer, translocations in the ALK gene, which occur in approximately 5% of lung adenocarcinomas, exist predominantly in non-smokers. ALK translocations gained notoriety recently because they are targets for the kinase inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori).1 Crizotinib has exhibited profound efficacy and has obtained FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) approval for use in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with ALK translocation, as determined by a break-apart fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) assay.2 Here we report a case where a patient with a complicated ALK genotype, including an EML4-ALK variant 5a/b translocation and ALK tandem duplication with response to crizotinib treatment.A 70-year-old female patient with complaints of progressive dyspnoea underwent a chest CT scan, which revealed a 6 cm spiculated mass with extrinsic compression of the trachea and the right main stem bronchus. PET-CT (positron emission tomography-CT) scan confirmed the findings of the CT scan and the mass was metabolically active, and there was presence of metastases in the lymph nodes. Histological evaluation along with immunostaining revealed primary lung adenocarcinoma. An MRI of the brain revealed nodular intraparenchymal metastatic deposits in the left cerebellar hemisphere, left inferior cerebellar vermus and the left superior parietal cortex. The patient received palliative radiation to the lung mass and gamma knife treatment for the brain metastasis. Genetic profiling performed on … ER -