Solitary cerebral metastases from ovarian epithelial carcinoma: 11 cases

Ovarian cancer is quite common in women, but brain metastases from ovarian cancer are considered rare. Eleven patients with solitary cerebral metastasis from ovarian epithelial carcinoma were treated at the Neurosurgical Department of University of Rome La Sapienza, between 1980 and 2000. We treated all of the 11 patients by surgical en bloc removal and by postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Mean survival was 28 months, and the cause of death was recurrence of the systemic disease in all cases. Multimodal treatment by surgery, radiation and chemotherapy is the best choice of treatment and leads to a median survival of about 20 months.