[Brain metastasis from breast cancer]

Thirty-seven patients with breast cancer who developed brain metastasis were analyzed. At the diagnosis of brain metastasis, all patients had widespread metastasis, and 36 patients were receiving chemotherapy. Thirty patients were treated by radiotherapy to the brain at doses of 4,000 rads. There were 6 CRs (20%) and 5 PRs (17%). The median survival time for all patients was 53 months (8-177+) from diagnosis of the primary tumor, 24 months (7-126+) from the first recurrence, and 6 months (1-47+) from diagnosis of brain metastasis. Patients who achieved CR or PR survived longer than non-responders (11+ months vs. 6 months: p less than 0.01). Several backgrounds factors were analyzed, and the results indicated that patients with better performance status survived significantly longer than those with poorer performance status (11 months vs. 4 months: p less than 0.001).