Short-term survivors with brain metastases have modest benefits from focal and systemic therapies and remain frequent despite improving treatment landscape.

Abstract

Purpose: Therapeutic options for patients with brain metastases (BM) increase. While these lead to considerable survival effects in subgroups, there is limited knowledge about characteristics, prognosticators and treatment effects in patients with BM and short survival.

Methods: Patients with a survival time of ≤ 6 months (short-term survivors, STS), diagnosed with BM between 2009-2021 at a large tertiary cancer center were analysed. Clinical and treatment characteristics, pathological data and causes of death were documented. Descriptive statistics, treatment-specific univariate Kaplan-Meier estimator analyses and multivariate Cox regression were performed.

Results: Among 1248 patients with BM, 480 (38 %) were STS. 256 STS with detailed clinical records were included in this analysis. In univariate and multivariate analysis, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) (p < 0.001) and number of BM (p = 0.004) were prognostic. In 75 % of patients, the ds-GPA score predicted short-term survival. Use of resection with focal radiotherapy (p < 0.001) and systemic treatment (p < 0.001) appeared prognostically favourable compared to whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) alone. However, survival benefits were very modest, with a median gain of 6 weeks following resection and focal radiotherapy compared to whole-brain radiotherapy, and 3 weeks from systemic treatment. Systemic tumor progression was documented as the cause of death in the majority of patients. Over the examined time period, the ratio between STS and other patients remained without significant change.

Conclusion: Within STS, KPS and number of BM are of prognostic relevance. There is benefit from local and systemic therapy to a limited extent. Shared and carefully discussed individual therapy decisions are necessary.