Investigation of Prevalence, Survival, and Molecular Type of Breast Cancer Patients with Brain Metastases

Abstract

Background: This study aims to investigate the factors associated with breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM) in individuals suffering from breast cancer (BC). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted on 200 patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) including 52 brain and 148 other organ metastases. The demographic, medical, clinical, laboratory, and therapeutic approach characteristics were compared between the groups. Results: Headache (61.5), weakness and lethargy (26.9), dizziness (15.4), blurred vision/blindness (15.4), and convulsions (15.4) were the major initial symptoms of BCBM. Radiotherapy (71.2), injectable (34.6), and oral chemotherapy (26.9) were the major applied therapeutic strategies to manage brain metastasis (BM). The overall survival of the patients from cancer diagnosis to death accounted for 33 months (95CI: 27.52-38.47), while this period after BM diagnosis was limited to 6 months (95CI: 5.15-6.84). The rate of hormone therapy was remarkably higher among the metastasis in other organs than the brain (P value = 0.005), while targeted therapy was performed in higher rates for BM (P value = 0.001). The evaluation of BC-related tumor markers revealed that human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) (P value < 0.001) positivity was remarkably higher among BCBM, while positive estrogen receptor (ER) (P value = 0.004) and progesterone receptor (PR) (P value = 0.013) were statistically more in the other group. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the BC patients with BM had a remarkable short survival, had a higher rate of perineural invasion, and were mostly positive for HER2. Radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery were the most common approaches to these patients.