Palliation of Brain Metastases: Analysis of Prognostic Factors Affecting Overall Survival.

Abstract

CONTEXT: Brain metastasis is one of the most feared complications of cancer that poses significant mortality and morbidity in patients with advanced cancer. The incidence is rising because of greater use of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy; and increased survival from recent advances in immunotherapy and modern radiotherapy techniques. Despite all, the prognosis remains poor. AIMS: This study aimed to analyze prognostic factors and overall survival in patients with brain metastases. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 145 patients were analyzed from July 2014 to June 2015 for various prognostic factors prospectively. Survival analysis was done using Kaplan-Meier curve. RESULTS: = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: WBRT remains the cornerstone of the management of brain metastases. The present study concludes that the survival of patients with brain metastases is significantly improved with female gender, good PS, primary breast cancer, time lag of >6 months between diagnosis of the primary tumor and development of brain metastases, solitary lesion, and controlled primary tumor.