Metastasis-directed stereotactic radiotherapy in patients with breast cancer: results of an international multicenter cohort study.

Abstract

Metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) for oligometastatic breast cancer (≤ 5 metastases) has shown little effect in specific scenarios of randomized trials. Therefore, we aimed to assess outcomes after metastasis-directed stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) in various clinical scenarios. We conducted an international retrospective cohort study in thirteen centers including breast cancer patients receiving SRT to any metastatic site. Outcomes included local recurrence (LR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Cumulative incidence analysis was used for LR, Kaplan-Meier estimates for PFS and OS. Covariables included patient, disease, and SRT characteristics. We performed univariable and multivariable analyses (MVA). Among 444 patients, 751 metastases were treated with SRT. Of these, 73% were intracranial and 27% extracranial lesions. Oligometastatic disease (OMD) was present in 66% of the patients. LR after two years occurred significantly more often in intracranial (25%) versus extracranial lesions (7%). In MVA of patients with OMD treated for intracranial sites, higher performance status was significantly associated with longer PFS. Further, higher performance status, biologic subtype (HR-pos./HER2-pos.), and MDT to all sites were significantly associated with longer OS. In MVA of oligometastatic patients treated for extracranial sites, biologic subtype (HR-neg./HER2-pos.) and synchronous metastasis were associated with significantly longer PFS, whereas higher grading was associated with significantly shorter PFS. Moreover, biologic subtype (HR-neg./HER2-neg.) was associated with significantly shorter OS. In conclusion, the role of MDT for breast cancer may vary per clinical scenario. Patients with OMD treated for intracranial lesions who had MDT to all sites showed superior OS. Our results should be validated prospectively.