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Attributes of brain metastases from breast and lung cancer

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Abstract

Background

Most brain metastases arise from breast and lung cancers. Few studies compare the brain regions they involve, their numbers and intrinsic attributes.

Methods

Records of all patients referred to Radiation Oncology for treatment of symptomatic brain metastases were obtained. Computed tomography (n = 56) or magnetic resonance imaging (n = 72) brain scans were reviewed.

Results

Data from 68 breast and 62 lung cancer patients were compared. Brain metastases presented earlier in the course of the lung than of the breast cancer patients (p = 0.001). There were more metastases in the cerebral hemispheres of the breast than of the lung cancer patients (p = 0.014). More breast than lung cancer patients had cerebellar metastases (p = 0.001). The number of cerebral hemisphere metastases and presence of cerebellar metastases were positively correlated (p = 0.001). The prevalence of at least one metastasis surrounded with >2 cm of edema was greater for the lung than for the breast patients (p = 0.019). The primary tumor type, rather than the scanning method, correlated with differences between these variables.

Conclusions

Brain metastases from lung occur earlier, are more edematous, but fewer in number than those from breast cancers. Cerebellar brain metastases are more frequent in breast cancer.

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Acknowledgments

Author KH was supported by a Downstate Medical College summer research grant: 2008. We appreciate Drs. Marvin Rotman and Christopher Lange kindly reading the manuscript and making many useful suggestions.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Downstate Medical College of the State University of New York, Box 55, 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11203, USA

    Kyle Hengel, Gurinder Sidhu & Albert S. Braverman

  2. Division of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Downstate Medical College of the State University of New York, Box 45, 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11203, USA

    Jai Choi

  3. Department of Scientific Computing, Downstate Medical College of the State University of New York, 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11203, USA

    Jeremy Weedon

  4. Department of Radiation Oncology, Downstate Medical College of the State University of New York, Box 1211, 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11203, USA

    Emmanuel Nwokedi

  5. Division of Surgical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Downstate Medical College of the State University of New York, Box 25, 450 Clarkson Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11203, USA

    Constantine A. Axiotis & Xianyuan Song

Authors
  1. Kyle Hengel
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  2. Gurinder Sidhu
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  3. Jai Choi
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  4. Jeremy Weedon
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  5. Emmanuel Nwokedi
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  6. Constantine A. Axiotis
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  7. Xianyuan Song
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  8. Albert S. Braverman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Albert S. Braverman.

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Hengel, K., Sidhu, G., Choi, J. et al. Attributes of brain metastases from breast and lung cancer. Int J Clin Oncol 18, 396–401 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-012-0392-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-012-0392-x

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