Brain Metastases from Gynecologic Malignancies

Abstract

Background and Objectives: To present a series of brain metastases from gynecologic primaries and provide a summary of the relevant literature. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively review 18 patients with histologically confirmed brain metastases from gynecologic primaries and summarize the largest series of relative reports. Results: Six brain metastases were of endometrial primary and 12 of ovarian primary. In 3 cases (16.7%), diagnosis of brain metastases was made at presentation of the gynecologic primary; in the others, median time to development of brain metastasis was 34 (range, 6–115) months. Median survival after brain metastasis diagnosis was 5 (range, 1–89) months. Favorable prognostic factors were better performance status (p = 0.04) and, marginally, smaller metastasis size (p = 0.06). No differences in brain metastases between endometrial and ovarian primaries were found, except for the time interval from primary to brain metastases diagnosis, which was shorter for endometrial tumors (p = 0.05). A comprehensive summary of previous studies is provided. Conclusions: Performance status and smaller brain metastases size are good prognostic factors. Endometrial cancer brain metastases develop earlier than ovarian cancer brain metastases.

Keywords

• ovarian cancer
• endometrial cancer
• brain metastasis