SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAIN METASTASIZING IN PATIENTS WITH LUMINAL SUBTYPE OF BREAST CANCER

Abstract

Background: More than half of female patients with breast cancer are diagnosed with a luminal subtype of the disease; however, specific characteristics of its metastases to the brain have been not well studied, unlike those of HER2 positive and triple negative subtypes. Aim: A comparative analysis of characteristics of metastatic brain lesions in patients with luminal breast cancer. Materials and methods: The time from surgery for breast cancer to the first recurrence and to metastatic brain lesions (assessed by contrast-enhanced MRI imaging) was measured in 41 patients with luminal subtype of breast cancer (median age, 49.5±9.6 years), depending on a diameter of the primary tumor and numbers of involved axillary lymph nodes. Results: The time interval to occurrence of brain metastases in luminal subtype of breast cancer is not associated with the size of the tumor. If≥4 axillary lymph nodes are involved (N2–3), brain metastases are identified much earlier (p<0.05) than in patients with N0–1 (34.5±23.9 months and 62.7±50 months, respectively). Neither the size nor the involvement of axillary lymph nodes has any impact on the rates of metastatic lesion to the brain during the first recurrence. Conclusion: Brain metastases occur at a much shorter time in those patients of luminal subtype of breast cancer who have metastases in≥4 axillary lymph nodes. Brain metastases develop in 50% of patients with the first recurrence of the luminal subtype of breast cancer.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• luminal subtype
• metastasis
• brain
• time to metastatic lesions
• tumor diameter
• axillary lymph nodes