title: Patients with brain metastases derived from gastrointestinal cancer: clinical characteristics and prognostic factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study seeks to evaluate the natural history, outcome, and possible prognostic factors in patients with brain metastases derived from gastrointestinal cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinical features, prognostic factors, and the effects of different treatment modalities on survival were retrospectively investigated in 103 patients with brain metastases derived from gastrointestinal cancers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median time from diagnosis of primary tumor to brain metastasis was 22.00 months. The interval between diagnosis of primary tumor relapse and brain metastasis was 8.00 months. The median follow-up time was 7.80 months. The median survival time after diagnosis of brain metastases was 4.10 months for all patients and 1.17 months for patients who received only steroids (36.9 %), 3.97 months for patients who only received whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT 31.1 %), 11.07 months for patients who received gamma-knife surgery alone or/and WBRT (20.4 %), and 13.70 months for patients who underwent surgery and radiotherapy (12 patients, 11.6 %) (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class, extracranial metastasis, and chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors. Brain metastasis derived from gastrointestinal tract cancer is rare, and overall patient survival is poor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RPA class, chemotherapy after brain metastases, and treatment regimens were independent prognostic factors for the survival of patients with brain metastases derived from gastrointestinal cancers.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: C-H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: F-J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y-L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: R-R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: L-J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: J-Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Cancer Center, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, No.8 Dong Da Street, FengTai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China. xujianming088@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: J-M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D016371:Cranial Irradiation; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016634:Radiosurgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Brain metastatic tumor; Gastrointestinal tract cancer; Prognosis