[Analysis of 12 cases of brain metastasis from colorectal cancer]

This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the outcomes of 12 patients with brain metastasis from colorectal cancer treated between 1999 and 2008. The range of patients was 33-72 years old (median: 64 years old). The male to female ratio was 2:1. The primary site was the colon in 4 patients and rectum in 8 patients. The site of brain metastasis was the cerebrum in 8 and cerebellum in 4. All brain lesions were metachronously detected. Three patients had a single lesion each, while the remaining 9 had multiple lesions. The range of the period from the resection of the primary lesion to the detection of brain metastasis was 144-2,062 days (median: 868 days). The types of treatment included whole brain radiotherapy after cerebral metastatectomy in three patients with a single lesion, whole brain radiotherapy only in 7 patients with multiple lesions, and modified FOLFOX6 (mFOLFOX6) regimen combined with whole brain radiation in recently treated two patients with multiple brain and lung metastases. The median overall survival period was 107 days. The longest survivor was a patient who survived for 505 days after the start of mFOLFOX6 plus radiation therapy. It appears that how we control metastases has become more important in recent years. For example, using new drugs, extracranial metastases of controllable cancer have become better controllable over longer periods.