CT findings in cerebral metastases

In a series of 120 patients presenting a CT image of a cerebral tumor metastasis an analysis of 88 verified cases has been performed aiming at a determination of the morphological criteria which might enable us to speculate on the site of the primary lesion. The following properties have been studied: the location, size and shape of the lesions, their number, the extent of the surrounding edema and their postcontrast enhancement. Lung cancer participated as a source in 30.8% of the disclosed metastases, in 15.8% it was breast cancer, in 11.7% renal cancer, in 9.2% malignant melanoma and the remaining 32.5% were miscellaneous others. Our results demonstrated a certain degree of probability of identifying some of those sources of the CT detected metastases which had hitherto been unknown. Their degree of malignancy might be deduced from their size and shape.