Dirk Rades1, Heinke C Hansen2, Liesa Dziggel2, Stefan Janssen2,3, Steven E Schild4. 1. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany dirk.rades@uksh.de. 2. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany. 3. Medical Practice for Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology, Hannover, Germany. 4. Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, U.S.A.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: For treatment of brain metastases, a patient's survival prognosis should be considered. Existing survival scores appear complex and require complete tumor staging. For many patients, a faster and simpler tool would be helpful. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study investigated the prognostic value of the number of pre-treatment symptoms plus eight other factors on survival of patients irradiated for brain metastases. Other factors included whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) regimen, age, gender, performance score, primary tumor type, number of brain metastases, extracranial metastases, and interval between cancer diagnosis and WBRT. RESULTS: The number of symptoms (p=0.002) and all other factors were significantly associated with survival on univariate analyses. On multivariate analysis, all factors but the number of symptoms (p=0.47) and primary tumor type (p=0.48) were significant. CONCLUSION: Since the number of symptoms was not an independent predictor of survival, it cannot replace existing scoring tools and may only serve for orientation. Copyright
BACKGROUND/AIM: For treatment of brain metastases, a patient's survival prognosis should be considered. Existing survival scores appear complex and require complete tumor staging. For many patients, a faster and simpler tool would be helpful. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study investigated the prognostic value of the number of pre-treatment symptoms plus eight other factors on survival of patients irradiated for brain metastases. Other factors included whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) regimen, age, gender, performance score, primary tumor type, number of brain metastases, extracranial metastases, and interval between cancer diagnosis and WBRT. RESULTS: The number of symptoms (p=0.002) and all other factors were significantly associated with survival on univariate analyses. On multivariate analysis, all factors but the number of symptoms (p=0.47) and primary tumor type (p=0.48) were significant. CONCLUSION: Since the number of symptoms was not an independent predictor of survival, it cannot replace existing scoring tools and may only serve for orientation. Copyright