Outcome of patients with an initial presentation of brain metastases.
133 Background: Many studies have looked at the survival of patients with brain metastases but few studies have determined if the survival of patients initally presenting with brain metastases is the same as patients who subsequently develop brain metastases. Methods: Patients with no known history or a malignancy who presented to the hospital with brain metastases were retrospectively revieweed for survival. The survival data were collected from the hospital's tumor registryand the Social Security Index. The years 2010-2011 were studied as of 5/31/2013. Results: Ninety-four patients met the inclusion criteria in 2010 and eight-two patients in 2011. Sixty five percent of the patients in 2010 were male and fifty-five percent were male in 2011. The median age was approximately 60. In 2010 53% of the patients had lung cancer and 12% had breast cancer and in 2011 45% had lung cancer and 13% had breast cancer. zThus the median survival is equivalent to the median survival of the lung cancer patients, which was 71 days in 2010 and 37 days in 2011. the median survival of the breast cancer patients were 153 days in 2010 and 35 days in 2011. Sixty three percent of the patients received radiation therapy as some part of their treatment and eighteen percent received no treatment. The median survival time of patients receiving radiation therapy only as treatment was 84 days and the patients with no treatment had a survival of 34 days. Conclusions: The survival of patients presenting with brain metastases falls within the range expected from previous studies of patients with brain metastases. The survival of patients presenting with lung cancer was much poorer than patients with breast cancer. Patients for no treatment appear to be appropriately selected, with a median surival of approximately one month.