title: Leptomeningeal metastasis: survival and prognostic factors in 155 patients.
abstract: In this single-center retrospective study, 155 consecutive patients with leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) were analyzed for the prognostic role of patient- and therapy-related variables. Ten percent of the patients received radiotherapy alone, 32% had chemotherapy alone, 31% received radiochemotherapy, 17% had supportive therapy only, and 10% were not evaluable for therapy. Chemotherapy was systemic (17%), combined systemic and intrathecal (10%), or intrathecal only (35%). Clinical improvement was noted in 41% of the patients. Overall median survival time (MST) was 4.8 months. Survival varied considerably depending on the type of primary tumor in this largest published cohort of LM patients. Univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that age >60 and elevated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) albumin or lactate levels were therapy-independent predictors of poor survival in the entire cohort as well as in the subgroup of patients with systemic primary tumors (n=105). The assessment of three therapy-independent parameters allows to group LM patients into groups of low, intermediate, and high risk of poor survival. Moreover, the application of systemic chemotherapy was a positive prognostic factor in patients with subarachnoid lesions detected by neuroimaging (RR 1.94, p=0.001) or with extra-CNS tumor deposits (RR 1.52, p=0.05). The results of this study suggest that systemic chemotherapy alone or in combination with other therapeutic modalities may improve outcome in patients with subarachnoid tumor cell deposits detectable by neuroimaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. ulrich.herrrlinger@uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Herrlinger
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Förschler
authors.forename: Wilhelm
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Küker
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meyermann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bamberg
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dichgans
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome