title: [Brain metastases from breast cancer: usefulness and limits of prognostic scores].
abstract: Approximately 10 to 30% of patients with metastatic breast cancer will develop brain metastases (BM) during the disease course. Whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) is considered the standard treatment for most patients, particularly those with extensive intracranial disease, providing symptom relief and increasing median and overall survival. Despite WBRT, the prognosis for the general population of patients with BM remains poor, with a median survival time of approximately five months. Several studies have examined the relative contributions of patient characteristics to survival and have attempted to identify subgroups of patients with substantially different outcomes in order to tailor therapy and to influence the design, stratification and interpretation of future clinical trials. This review examines prognostic scores and their validation in patients with BM from breast carcinoma. We also discuss the prognostic value of specific parameters for breast carcinoma, such as tumor HR status, HER2 over-expression or specific treatment parameters, and the value and limits of these prognostic scores in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Institut Curie, Hôpital René-Huguenin, département d'oncologie-radiothérapie, 35, rue Dailly, 92210 Saint-Cloud, France. lescodan@crh1.org
authors.forename: Romuald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Le Scodan
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Massard
authors.forename: Ludivine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jouanneau
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mouret-Fourme
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D016371:Cranial Irradiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017567:Karnofsky Performance Status; D011379:Prognosis