The role of surgical resection in patients with brain metastases

Local and Systemic Management Options for Melanoma Brain Metastases

ABSTRACT

Development of brain metastasis is one of the most serious complications of advanced melanoma, carrying a significant burden of morbidity and mortality. Although advances in local treatment modalities such as stereotactic radiosurgery and breakthrough systemic therapies including immunotherapy and targeted therapies have improved the outcomes of patients with metastatic melanoma, management of patients with melanoma brain metastases (MBMs) remains challenging. Notably, patients with MBMs have historically been excluded from clinical trials, limiting insights into their specific treatment responses. Encouragingly, a growing body of evidence shows the potential of systemic therapies to yield durable intracranial responses in these patients, highlighting the need for inclusion of patients with MBMs in future clinical trials. This is pivotal for expediting the advancement of novel therapies tailored to this distinct patient population. In this review, we will highlight the evolving landscape of MBM management, focusing on local and systemic treatment strategies.

Enhancing outcomes: neurosurgical resection in brain metastasis patients with poor Karnofsky performance score - a comprehensive survival analysis

Background

A reduced Karnofsky performance score (KPS) often leads to the discontinuation of surgical and adjuvant therapy, owing to a lack of evidence of survival and quality of life benefits. This study aimed to examine the clinical and treatment outcomes of patients with KPS < 70 after neurosurgical resection and identify prognostic factors associated with better survival.

Methods

Patients with a preoperative KPS < 70 who underwent surgical resection for newly diagnosed brain metastases (BM) between 2007 and 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The KPS, age, sex, tumor localization, cumulative tumor volume, number of lesions, extent of resection, prognostic assessment scores, adjuvant radiotherapy and systemic therapy, and presence of disease progression were analyzed. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with better survival. Survival > 3 months was considered favorable and ≤ 3 months as poor.

Results

A total of 140 patients were identified. Median overall survival was 5.6 months (range 0-58). There was no difference in the preoperative KPS between the groups of > 3 and ≤ 3 months (50; range, 20-60 vs. 50; range, 10-60, p = 0.077). There was a significant improvement in KPS after surgery in patients with a preoperative KPS of 20% (20 vs 40 ± 20, p = 0.048). In the other groups, no significant changes in KPS were observed. Adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with better survival (44 [84.6%] vs. 32 [36.4%]; hazard ratio [HR], 0.0363; confidence interval [CI], 0.197-0.670, p = 0.00199). Adjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy resulted in prolonged survival (24 [46.2%] vs. 12 [13.6%]; HR 0.474, CI 0.263-0.854, p = 0.013]. Systemic disease progression was associated with poor survival (36 [50%] vs. 71 [80.7%]; HR 5.975, CI 2.610-13.677, p < 0.001].

Conclusion

Neurosurgical resection is an appropriate treatment modality for patients with low KPS. Surgery may improve functional status and facilitate further tumor-specific treatment. Combined treatment with adjuvant radiotherapy and systemic therapy was associated with improved survival in this cohort of patients. Systemic tumor progression has been identified as an independent factor for a poor prognosis. There is almost no information regarding surgical and adjuvant treatment in patients with low KPS. Our paper provides novel data on clinical outcome and survival analysis of patients with BM who underwent surgical treatment.

Poor Karnofsky performance status is not a contraindication for neurosurgical resection in patients with lung cancer brain metastases: a multicenter, retrospective PSM-IPTW cohort study

BACKGOUND

Neurosurgical resection is a standard local treatment for lung cancer brain metastases (BMs). This study aims to investigate whether neurosurgical resection provides survival benefit in lung cancer BMs with poor KPS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This multicenter retrospective study included 386 lung cancer BMs with pretreatment KPS ≤ 70 among a total of 1177 lung cancer BMs treated at three centers from August 2010 to July 2021. Data analysis was performed from July to September 2022. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and propensity scores matching (PSM) based on propensity scoring were used to minimize bias. The main outcome was overall survival (OS) after diagnosis of BMs. Risk factors of OS were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models. All Characteristics were included in the multivariate Cox regression.

RESULTS

386 patients with pretreatment KPS ≤ 70 were included (age mean [SD], 57.85 [10.36] years; KPS mean [SD], 60.91 [10.11]). Among them, 111 patients received neurosurgical resection, while 275 patients did not. Baseline characteristics were balanced between groups after IPTW or PSM. Neurosurgical resection was associated with significantly better prognosis in unadjusted multivariate COX analysis (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.68, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.51-0.91, P = 0.01), and PSM-adjusted multivariate COX analysis (HR: 0.61, 95%CI: 0.39-0.94, P = 0.03), IPTW-adjusted multivariate COX analysis (HR: 0.58, 95%CI: 0.40-0.84, P = 0.004). OS was significantly longer in neurosurgical resection group compared with non-surgical resection group according to unadjusted data (Median OS, surgery vs non-surgery, 14.7 vs 12.5 months, P = 0.01), PSM-adjusted data (median OS, 17.7 vs 12.3 months, P < 0.01) and IPTW-adjusted data (median OS, 17.7 vs 12.5 months, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Neurosurgical resection was associated with improved survival in patients with lung cancer BMs with poor KPS, suggesting that poor KPS is not a contraindication for neurosurgical resection in these patients.

A Self-Attention-Guided 3D Deep Residual Network With Big Transfer to Predict Local Failure in Brain Metastasis After Radiotherapy Using Multi-Channel MRI

A noticeable proportion of larger brain metastases (BMs) are not locally controlled after stereotactic radiotherapy, and it may take months before local progression is apparent on standard follow-up imaging. This work proposes and investigates new explainable deep-learning models to predict the radiotherapy outcome for BM. A novel self-attention-guided 3D residual network is introduced for predicting the outcome of local failure (LF) after radiotherapy using the baseline treatment-planning MRI. The 3D self-attention modules facilitate capturing long-range intra/inter slice dependencies which are often overlooked by convolution layers. The proposed model was compared to a vanilla 3D residual network and 3D residual network with CBAM attention in terms of performance in outcome prediction. A training recipe was adapted for the outcome prediction models during pretraining and training the down-stream task based on the recently proposed big transfer principles. A novel 3D visualization module was coupled with the model to demonstrate the impact of various intra/peri-lesion regions on volumetric multi-channel MRI upon the network's prediction. The proposed self-attention-guided 3D residual network outperforms the vanilla residual network and the residual network with CBAM attention in accuracy, F1-score, and AUC. The visualization results show the importance of peri-lesional characteristics on treatment-planning MRI in predicting local outcome after radiotherapy. This study demonstrates the potential of self-attention-guided deep-learning features derived from volumetric MRI in radiotherapy outcome prediction for BM. The insights obtained via the developed visualization module for individual lesions can possibly be applied during radiotherapy planning to decrease the chance of LF.

Predicting the outcome of radiotherapy in brain metastasis by integrating the clinical and MRI-based deep learning features

BACKGROUND

A considerable proportion of metastatic brain tumors progress locally despite stereotactic radiation treatment, and it can take months before such local progression is evident on follow-up imaging. Prediction of radiotherapy outcome in terms of tumor local failure is crucial for these patients and can facilitate treatment adjustments or allow for early salvage therapies.

PURPOSE

In this work, a novel deep learning architecture is introduced to predict the outcome of local control/failure in brain metastasis treated with stereotactic radiation therapy using treatment-planning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and standard clinical attributes.

METHODS

At the core of the proposed architecture is an InceptionResentV2 network to extract distinct features from each MRI slice for local outcome prediction. A recurrent or transformer network is integrated into the architecture to incorporate spatial dependencies between MRI slices into the predictive modeling. A visualization method based on prediction difference analysis is coupled with the deep learning model to illustrate how different regions of each lesion on MRI contribute to the model's prediction. The model was trained and optimized using the data acquired from 99 patients (116 lesions) and evaluated on an independent test set of 25 patients (40 lesions).

RESULTS

The results demonstrate the promising potential of the MRI deep learning features for outcome prediction, outperforming standard clinical variables. The prediction model with only clinical variables demonstrated an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.68. The MRI deep learning models resulted in AUCs in the range of 0.72 to 0.83 depending on the mechanism to integrate information from MRI slices of each lesion. The best prediction performance (AUC = 0.86) was associated with the model that combined the MRI deep learning features with clinical variables and incorporated the inter-slice dependencies using a long short-term memory recurrent network. The visualization results highlighted the importance of tumor/lesion margins in local outcome prediction for brain metastasis.

CONCLUSIONS

The promising results of this study show the possibility of early prediction of radiotherapy outcome for brain metastasis via deep learning of MRI and clinical attributes at pre-treatment and encourage future studies on larger groups of patients treated with other radiotherapy modalities.

Quantum dots: The cutting-edge nanotheranostics in brain cancer management

Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals possessing unique optoelectrical properties in that they can emit light energy of specific tunable wavelengths when excited by photons. They are gaining attention nowadays owing to their all-around ability to allow high-quality bio-imaging along with targeted drug delivery. The most lethal central nervous system (CNS) disorders are brain cancers or malignant brain tumors. CNS is guarded by the blood-brain barrier which poses a selective blockade toward drug delivery into the brain. QDs have displayed strong potential to deliver therapeutic agents into the brain successfully. Their bio-imaging capability due to photoluminescence and specific targeting ability through the attachment of ligand biomolecules make them preferable clinical tools for coming times. Biocompatible QDs are emerging as nanotheranostic tools to identify/diagnose and selectively kill cancer cells. The current review focuses on QDs and associated nanoformulations as potential futuristic clinical aids in the continuous battle against brain cancer.

Survival benefits of primary tumor surgery for synchronous brain metastases: A SEER-based population study with propensity-matched comparative analysis

BACKGROUND

Evidence about the prognostic value of primary tumor surgery (PTS) in patients with brain metastatic malignancies is ambiguous and controversial. This study assessed the survival benefits of primary tumor surgery in patients with brain metastases (BMs).

METHODS

Adults patients with BMs that originated from lung, breast, kidney, skin, colon, and liver diagnosed between 2010 and 2018 were derived from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (SEER). Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance the bias between patients with or without PTS. Then the prognostic value of PTS was estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression models.

RESULTS

A total of 32,760 patients with BMs secondary to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer (SCLC), breast cancer, renal cancer, melanoma, colorectal cancer, and liver cancer were identified from the database. After PSM at 1:1 ratio, PTS appeared to significantly prolong cause-specific survival (CSS) time for patients with BMs secondary to NSCLC, breast cancer, renal cancer, and colorectal cancer (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.60 [0.53-0.68], 0.56 [0.43-0.73], 0.47 [0.37-0.60], and 0.59 [0.37-0.95], respectively, all p < 0.05). Patients with earlier T and N classifications, no extracranial metastasis, and cancer-specific subtypes (adenocarcinoma in NSCLC, hormone receptor-negative breast cancer) may derive more survival benefits from PTS when suffering from BMs.

CONCLUSION

This population-based study supported PTS could provide survival benefits for patients with BMs secondary to NSCLC, breast cancer, renal cancer, and colorectal cancer. More emphasis should be put on PTS of selected patients with BMs.

Recent Update on Neurosurgical Management of Brain Metastasis

Brain metastasis (BM), classified as a secondary brain tumor, is the most common malignant central nervous system tumor whose median overall survival is approximately 6 months. However, the survival rate of patients with BMs has increased with recent advancements in immunotherapy and targeted therapy. This means that clinicians should take a more active position in the treatment paradigm that passively treats BMs. Because patients with BM are treated in a variety of clinical settings, treatment planning requires a more sophisticated decision-making process than that for other primary malignancies. Therefore, an accurate prognostic prediction is essential, for which a graded prognostic assessment that reflects next-generation sequencing can be helpful. It is also essential to understand the indications for various treatment modalities, such as surgical resection, stereotactic radiosurgery, and whole-brain radiotherapy and consider their advantages and disadvantages when choosing a treatment plan. Surgical resection serves a limited auxiliary function in BM, but it can be an essential therapeutic approach for increasing the survival rate of specific patients; therefore, this must be thoroughly recognized during the treatment process. The ultimate goal of surgical resection is maximal safe resection; to this end, neuronavigation, intraoperative neuro-electrophysiologic assessment including evoked potential, and the use of fluorescent materials could be helpful. In this review, we summarize the considerations for neurosurgical treatment in a rapidly changing treatment environment.

Management of Brain Metastasis. Surgical Resection versus Stereotactic Radiotherapy: A Meta-analysis

Background

Treatment of metastatic brain tumors often involves radiotherapy with or without surgical resection as the first step. However, the indications for when to use surgery are not clearly defined for certain tumor sizes and multiplicity. This study seeks to determine whether resection of brain metastases versus exclusive radiotherapy provided improved survival and local control in cases where metastases are limited in number and diameter.

Methods

According to PRISMA guidelines, this meta-analysis compares outcomes from treatment of a median number of brain metastases ≤4 with a median diameter ≤4 cm with exclusive radiotherapy versus surgery followed by radiotherapy. Four randomized control trials and 11 observational studies (1693 patients) met inclusion criteria. For analysis, studies were grouped based on whether radiation involved stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) or whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT).

Results

In both analyses, there was no difference in survival between surgery ±SRS versus SRS alone two years after treatment (OR 1.89 (95% CI: 0.47 - 7.55, p = 0.23) or surgery + WBRT versus radiotherapy alone (either WBRT and/or SRS) (OR 1.18 (95% CI: 0.76 – 1.84, p = 0.46). However, surgical patients demonstrated greater risk for local tumor recurrence compared to SRS alone (OR 2.20 (95% CI: 1.49 - 3.25, p &lt; 0.0001)) and compared to WBRT/SRS (OR 2.93; 95% CI: 1.68 - 5.13, p = 0.0002).

Conclusion

The higher incidence of local tumor recurrence for surgical patients suggests that more prospective studies are needed to clarify outcomes for treatment of 1-4 metastasis less than 4 cm diameter.

Resection of symptomatic non-small cell lung cancer brain metastasis in the setting of multiple brain metastases

OBJECTIVE

Current guidelines primarily suggest resection of brain metastases (BMs) in patients with limited lesions. With a growing number of highly effective local and systemic treatment options, this view may be challenged. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of metastasectomy, disregarding BM count, in a comprehensive treatment setting.

METHODS

In this monocentric retrospective analysis, the authors included patients who underwent resection for at least 1 BM and collected demographic, clinical, and tumor-associated parameters. Prognostic factors for local control and overall survival (OS) were analyzed with the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards analysis.

RESULTS

The authors analyzed 216 patients. One hundred twenty-nine (59.7%) patients were diagnosed with a single/solitary BM, whereas 64 (29.6%) patients had 2-3 BMs and the remaining 23 (10.6%) had more than 3 BMs. With resection of symptomatic BMs, a significant improvement in Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) was achieved (p < 0.001), thereby enabling adjuvant radiotherapy for 199 (92.1%) patients and systemic treatment for 119 (55.1%) patients. During follow-up, 83 (38.4%) patients experienced local recurrence. BM count did not significantly influence local control rates. By the time of analysis, 120 (55.6%) patients had died; the leading cause of death was systemic tumor progression. The mean (range) OS after surgery was 12.7 (0-88) months. In univariate analysis, the BM count did not influence OS (p = 0.844), but age < 65 years (p = 0.007), preoperative and postoperative KPS ≥ 70 (p = 0.002 and p = 0.005, respectively), systemic metastases other than BM (p = 0.004), adjuvant radiation therapy (p < 0.001), and adjuvant systemic treatment (p < 0.001) were prognostic factors. In regression analysis, the presence of extracranial metastases (HR 2.30, 95% CI 1.53-3.48, p < 0.001), adjuvant radiation therapy (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.23-0.86, p = 0.016), and adjuvant systemic treatment (HR 0.37, 95% CI 0.25-0.55, p < 0.001) remained as independent factors for survival.

CONCLUSIONS

Surgery for symptomatic BM from non-small cell lung cancer may be indicated even for patients with multiple lesions in order to alleviate their neurological symptoms and to consequently facilitate further treatment.

The Debatable Benefit of Gross-Total Resection of Brain Metastases in a Comprehensive Treatment Setting

Simple Summary

In this monocentric retrospective analysis, the extent of resection of singular/solitary brain metastases has no impact on local recurrence and overall survival rates in patients receiving multidisciplinary adjuvant treatment. Since systemic disease progression is the leading cause of death, and an uncontrolled systemic disease status, along with adjuvant treatment, present independent predictors of overall survival, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment concept is essential for patients with brain metastases.

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The value of gross-total surgical resection remains debatable in patients with brain metastases (BMs) as most patients succumb to systemic disease progression. In this study, we evaluated the impact of the extent of resection of singular/solitary BM on in-brain recurrence (iBR), focusing on local recurrence (LR) and overall survival (OS) in an interdisciplinary adjuvant treatment setting. Patients and Methods: In this monocentric retrospective analysis, we included patients receiving surgery of one BM and subsequent adjuvant treatment. A radiologist and a neurosurgeon determined in consensus the extent of resection based on magnetic resonance imaging. The OS was calculated using Kaplan–Meier estimates; prognostic factors for LR and OS were analysed by Log rank test and Cox proportional hazards. Results: We analyzed 197 patients. Gross-total resection was achieved in 123 (62.4%) patients. All patients were treated with adjuvant radiotherapy, and 130 (66.0%) received systemic treatment. Ninety-six (48.7%) patients showed iBR with an LR rate of 23.4%. LR was not significantly influenced by the extent of resection (p = 0.139) or any other parameter. The median OS after surgery was 18 (95%CI 12.5–23.5) months. In univariate analysis, the extent of resection did not influence OS (p = 0.6759), as opposed to adjuvant systemic treatment (p < 0.0001) and controlled systemic disease (p = 0.039). Systemic treatment and controlled disease status remained independent factors for OS (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.009, respectively). Conclusions: In this study, the extent of resection of BMs neither influenced the LR nor the OS of patients receiving interdisciplinary adjuvant treatment.

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma to the brain: optimizing patient selection for gamma knife radiosurgery

INTRODUCTION

The effects of single-fraction gamma knife radiosurgery (sf-GKRS) on patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) brain metastases (BM) in the era of targeted agents (TA) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are insufficiently studied.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Clear cell metastatic RCC patients treated with sf-GKRS due to BM in 2005-2014 at three European centres were retrospectively analysed (n = 43). Median follow-up was 56 months. Ninety-five percent had prior nephrectomy, 53% synchronous metastasis and 86% extracranial disease at first sf-GKRS. Karnofsky performance status (KPS) ranged from 60 to 100%. Outcome measures were overall survival (OS), local control (LC) and adverse radiation effects (ARE).

RESULTS

One hundred and ninety-four targets were irradiated. The median number of targets at first sf-GKRS was two. The median prescription dose was 22.0 Gy. Thirty-seven percent had repeated sf-GKRS. Eighty-eight percent received TA. LC rates at 12 and 18 months were 97% and 90%. Median OS from the first sf-GKRS was 15.7 months. Low serum albumin (HR for death 5.3), corticosteroid use pre-sf-GKRS (HR for death 5.8) and KPS < 80 (HR for death 9.1) were independently associated with worse OS. No further prognostic information was gleaned from MSKCC risk group, synchronous metastasis, age, number of BM or extracranial metastases. Other prognostic scores for BM radiosurgery, including DS-GPA, renal-GPA, LLV-SIR and CITV-SIR, again, did not add further prognostic value. ARE were seldom symptomatic and were associated with tumour volume, 10-Gy volume and pre-treatment perifocal oedema. ARE were less common among patients treated with TA within 1 month of sf-GKRS.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified albumin, corticosteroid use and KPS as independent prognostic factors for sf-GKRS of clear cell RCC BM. Studies focusing on the prognostic significance of albumin in sf-GKRS are rare. Further studies with a larger number of patients are warranted to confirm the above analytical outcome. Also, in keeping with previous studies, our data showed optimal rates of local tumour control and limited toxicity post radiosurgery, rendering GKRS the tool of choice in the management of RCC BM.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery After Resection of Brain Metastases: Changing Patterns of Care in the United States

OBJECTIVE

Management of symptomatic brain metastases often includes surgical resection with postoperative radiotherapy. Postoperative whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) improves intracranial control but detrimentally impacts quality of life and neurocognition. We sought to characterize the use in the United States of postoperative stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), an evolving standard-of-care associated with reduced cognitive effects.

METHODS

With the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database from 2007 to 2015, we identified patients aged 18-65 years treated with resection of a brain metastasis followed by SRS or WBRT within 60 days of surgery. Logistic regression estimated associations between co-variables (treatment year, age, sex, geographic region, place of service, insurance type, disease histology, comorbidity score, and median area household income and educational attainment) and SRS receipt.

RESULTS

Of 4007 patients included, 1506 (37.6%) received SRS and 2501 (62.4%) received WBRT. Postoperative SRS increased from 16.5% (2007-2008) to 56.8% (2014-2015). Patients residing in areas with a median household income or an educational attainment below 50th percentile were significantly less likely to receive SRS after controlling for treatment year and other demographic characteristics (P < 0.01). Factors associated with greater odds of receiving SRS included younger age, female sex, melanoma histology, Western region location, hospital-based facility, and high-deductible health plan enrollment (P < 0.05 for each).

CONCLUSIONS

Postoperative SRS for brain metastases has increased from 2007 to 2015, with the majority of patients now receiving SRS over WBRT. Patients in areas of lower socioeconomic class were less likely to receive SRS, warranting further investigation of barriers to SRS adoption.

Current Treatment of Melanoma Brain Metastasis

OPINION STATEMENT

With greater understanding of underlying biology and development of effective BRAF-targeted therapy and immunotherapy, along with remarkable advances in local treatment such as stereotactic radiosurgery, melanoma brain metastasis (MBM) is witnessing continually improving outcome, with 1-year overall survival rate approaching 85%. Given disease complexity and myriad treatment options, all patients with MBM should ideally be evaluated in a multidisciplinary setting to allow an individualized treatment approach based on prognostic groups, molecular classification, number and size of brain metastasis, and performance status. With improving outcome, pendulum has now swayed to focus more on effective treatment modalities with minimal neurological toxicity while maintaining quality of life. Surgery is usually considered in symptomatic and large MBMs, while stereotactic radiosurgery considered in 1-4 lesions, and now also being explored for up to 15 brain metastases for improved local control. The role of whole brain radiotherapy is diminishing given its neurocognitive toxicities and is reserved for patients with diffuse brain involvement. Cytotoxic chemotherapy has largely been ineffective without evidence for survival benefit. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have become the cornerstone of management for melanoma brain metastasis with durable intracranial tumor control and excellent toxicity profile. For patients with asymptomatic MBMs, ipilimumab and nivolumab have shown intracranial response near 60% and provides comparable clinical benefit in MBMs as for extracranial metastases. For patients with driver BRAF mutation, BRAFi-/MEKi-targeted agents are proven to be effective in MBM with high rate intracranial responses (44-59%). However, the durability of intracranial responses induced by BRAFi/MEKi seems to be shorter than that of extracranial disease. Emerging data support novel combination of systemic therapy and stereotactic radiosurgery, which appears to be safe and effective; however, potential benefits and risks should be evaluated prospectively. Promising ongoing trials will further expand therapeutic evidence in MBM, and patients should be encouraged to participate in clinical trials.

Validation of the graded prognostic assessment for gastrointestinal cancers with brain metastases (GI-GPA)

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to validate a new prognostic model (GI-GPA) originally derived from a multi-center database (USA, Canada, Japan).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This retrospective study included 92 German and Norwegian patients treated with individualized approaches, always including brain radiotherapy. Information about age, extracranial spread, number of brain metastases, performance status and other variables was collected. The GI-GPA score was calculated as described by Sperduto et al. RESULTS: Median survival was 4 months. The corresponding figures for the 4 different prognostic strata were 2.3, 4.4, 9.4 and 12.7 months, respectively (p = 0.0001). Patients whose management included surgical resection had longer median survival than those who were treated with other approaches (median 11.9 versus 3.0 months, p = 0.002). Comparable results were seen for additional systemic therapy (median 8.5 versus 3.5 months, p = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

These results confirm the validity of the GI-GPA in an independent dataset from a different geographical region, despite the fact that overall survival was shorter in all prognostic strata, compared to Sperduto et al. Potential explanations include differences in molecular tumor characteristics and treatment selection, both brain metastases-directed and extracranially. Long-term survival beyond 5 years is possible in a small minority of patients.

The Choice of Local Treatment Modalities for Patients with Brain Metastases from Digestive Cancers

Background

Brain metastases (BMs) from digestive cancers are rare; therefore, no optimal treatment modality has been defined.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 68257 patients with digestive cancers. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance patient backgrounds between groups. Survival differences between different treatment modalities were compared. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were performed to identify prognostic factors on overall survival (OS).

Results

270 patients with BM entered the study. In the entire group, the median survival time after diagnosis of brain metastases was 10.25 months (95% CI: 8.41–12.09 months); local treatment could significantly prolong OS (respectively, P < 0.01; even after PSM, P < 0.01); combination treatment was more effective than single treatment modality (respectively, P < 0.01; even after PSM, P < 0.01). However, each combination modality was identically effective (P > 0.05). When patients were divided into three groups based on 1, 2-3, or more than 3 metastatic lesion(s), same results were identified between local treatment and without local treatment (1 lesion, P < 0.01; 2-3 lesions, P < 0.01; more than 3 lesions, P < 0.01, respectively) and combination and single treatment (P < 0.01, P=0.02, P=0.03, respectively). However, there was no difference between different combined treatments (P > 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that performance status (P < 0.01), presence of extracranial metastasis (P=0.04), number of BM (P < 0.01), and local treatment for BM (P < 0.01) were independent prognostic factors.

Conclusions

Regardless of the number of brain lesions, local treatment achieved higher overall survival times than no local treatment, and combination therapy could offer survival benefit to patients as compared with single therapy.