title: A simple survival score for patients with brain metastases from breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Personalized cancer treatment considers the patient's survival prognosis. Therefore, it is important to be able to estimate the patient's survival time, particularly in a palliative situation such as brain metastasis. This study aimed to create and validate a survival score for patients with brain metastasis from breast cancer, which is the second most common primary tumor in these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data of 230 patients treated with whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) alone for brain metastasis from breast cancer were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were assigned to a test (n = 115) or a validation group (n = 115). According to the results of the multivariate analysis of the test group, Karnofsky Performance Score and extracranial metastases were included in the scoring system. The score for each factor was obtained from the 6-month survival rate (in %) divided by 10. Total scores represented the sum of these scores and were 4, 7, 9, or 12 points. Three prognostic groups were formed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 6-month survival rates in the test group were 10 % for 4-7 points, 55 % for 9 points, and 78 % for 15 points (p < 0.001). In the validation group the corresponding 6-month survival rates were 11, 54, and 75 %, respectively (p < 0.001). The comparisons between the prognostic groups of the test and the validation group did not show significant differences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This simple survival score appears valid and reproducible. It can be used to estimate the survival time of patients with brain metastasis from breast cancer receiving WBRT alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Luebeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538, Luebeck, Germany. Rades.Dirk@gmx.net
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rades
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dziggel
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Segedin
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oblak
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marita
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Schild
authors.forename: N T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Trang
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Khoa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000401:mortality*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate