Multimodal Therapy is a Better Choice for Patients with Brain Metastasis from Cervical Cancer

To evaluate the prognostic factors and optimal management of cervical cancer patients with brain metastasis (BM).

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 7098 consecutive patients with cervical cancer from January 2000 to December 2019. Data for a total of 24 BM patients with cervical cancer were analyzed retrospectively in the present study.

The incidence of BM from cervical cancer in our institution was 0.38%. The mean survival time was 7.2 months (median 6.2 months, 0.1-21.2 months). In the univariate analysis, the histopathology of neuroendocrine cancer, 2018 FIGO stage, Karnofsky performance status (KPS) at BM diagnosis, and treatment strategy were identified to be significant prognostic indicators for the survival of patients with BM from cervical cancer. In the multivariate analysis, KPS, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy were independent prognostic factors for survival. Recursive partition analysis (RPA) appeared to be a better prognostic tool than the other prognosis scoring classification systems.

When patients with BM from cervical cancer have good performance status and undergo comprehensive treatment, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, their survival time could be significantly prolonged. Patients with surgical indications may get better survival by postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Patients with BMs ≥3 may get better survival by whole-brain radiotherapy. But further studies are needed regarding the selection of surgical indications and radiotherapy modes. The prognosis scoring classification system for BM from cervical cancer needs to be improved.