Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2011 Jan 18;30(1):10.
doi: 10.1186/1756-9966-30-10.

Brain metastases from solid tumors: disease outcome according to type of treatment and therapeutic resources of the treating center

Alessandra Fabi  1 , Alessandra Felici, Giulio Metro, Alessandra Mirri, Emilio Bria, Stefano Telera, Luca Moscetti, Michelangelo Russillo, Gaetano Lanzetta, Giovanni Mansueto, Andrea Pace, Marta Maschio, Antonello Vidiri, Isabella Sperduti, Francesco Cognetti, Carmine M Carapella
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Brain metastases from solid tumors: disease outcome according to type of treatment and therapeutic resources of the treating center

Alessandra Fabi et al. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. .

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the therapeutic strategies commonly employed in the clinic for the management of brain metastases (BMs) and to correlate disease outcome with type of treatment and therapeutic resources available at the treating center.

Methods: Four Cancer centres participated to the survey. Data were collected through a questionnaire filled in by one physician for each centre.

Results: Clinical data regarding 290 cancer patients with BMs from solid tumors were collected. Median age was 59 and 59% of patients had ≤ 3 brain metastases. A local approach (surgery and stereotactic radiosurgery) was adopted in 31% of patients. The local approach demonstrated to be superior in terms of survival compared to the regional/systemic approach (whole brain radiotherapy and chemotherapy, p = <.0001 for survival at 2 years). In the multivariate analysis local treatment was an independent prognostic factor for survival. When patients were divided into 2 groups whether they were treated in centers where local approaches were available or not (group A vs group B respectively, 58% of patients with ≤ 3 BMs in both cohorts), more patients in group A received local strategies although no difference in time to brain progression at 1 year was observed between the two groups of patients.

Conclusions: In clinical practice, local strategies should be integrated in the management of brain metastases. Proper selection of patients who are candidate to local treatments is of crucial importance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan-Meier survival curves at 2 years according to primary tumor.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan-Meier survival curves at 2 years according to type of treatment for BMs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Posner JB. Brain metastases: 1995. A brief review. J Neurooncol. 1996;27:287–293. doi: 10.1007/BF00165486. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnson JD, Young B. Demographics of brain metastases. Clin N Am. 1996;7:337–344. - PubMed
    1. Sawaya R, Bindal RK, Lang FF, Abi-Said D. In: Brain tumors. An encyclopedic approach. 2. Churchill Livingstone, editor. London: Kaye AH and Laws Jr ER; 2001. Metastatic brain tumors; pp. 999–1026.
    1. Brem SS, Bierman PJ, Black P, Blumenthal DT, Brem H, Chamberlain MC, Chiocca EA, DeAngelis LM, Fenstermaker RA, Fine HA, Friedman A, Glass J, Grossman SA, Heimberger AB, Junck L, Levin V, Loeffler JJ, Maor MH, Narayana A, Newton HB, Olivi A, Portnow J, Prados M, Raizer JJ, Rosenfeld SS, Shrieve DC, Sills AK Jr, Spence AM, Vrionis FD. Central nervous system cancers: Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology. J Natl Compr Canc Netv. 2005;3:644–690. - PubMed
    1. Langer CJ, Mehta MP. Current management of brain metastases, with a focus on systemic options. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:6207–6219. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2005.03.145. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types