Prognostic factors of brain metastases in patients with breast cancer

Abstract

The development of brain metastases from breast cancer (BMBC) relates to poor prognosis. The median survival rate averages from 2 to 16 months and depends on various prognostic factors and therapeutic possibilities. There are some prognostic factors which were found in trials as a results of multivariate analyses and factors from prognostic scores in patients with brain metastases. According to the literature the important prognostic factors are performance status and status of the disease outside the brain. Performance status usually is evaluated according to the Karnofsky scale. Whereas the disease status is estimated variously as: presence versus no disease, controlled or uncontrolled disease, presence or not of distant metastases outside the brain. Many authors revealed that age, molecular type of breast cancer and number of brain metastases are potential prognostic factors. Published results of analyses showed that the role of some prognostic factors is limited in patients with BMBC.