title: Cystic brain metastasis is associated with poor prognosis in patients with advanced breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Brain metastasis (BM) with a cystic component from breast cancer is rare and largely uncharacterized. The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of cystic BM in a large cohort of breast cancer patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 35 eligible patients with cystic BM and 255 patients with solid BM were analyzed. Three factors were significantly associated with an increased probability of developing cystic lesions: age at diagnosis ≤ 40 years, age at BM ≤ 45 years, and poor histological grade (p < 0.05). Patients with cystic metastasis were also characterized by a larger metastasis volume, a shorter progression-free survival (PFS) following their first treatment for BM, and poor overall survival after BM (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis further demonstrated that local control of cystic BM was only potentially achieved for HER2-negative primary tumors (p = 0.084).
  
  
  METHODS
  Breast cancer patients with parenchymal BM were reviewed from consecutive cases treated at our institution. Cystic BM was defined when the volume of a cystic lesion was greater than 50% of the aggregated volume of all lesions present. Clinicopathologic and radiographic variables were correlated with development of cystic lesions and with prognosis of cystic BM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that cystic BM from breast cancer, a special morphological type of BM, had worse prognosis than the more commonly observed solid BM. Younger age and low tumor grade were associated with the development of cystic lesions. Further comprehensive research and management of cystic BM are warranted to improve its poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Shikai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Science and Technology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Junliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Cancer, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China.
authors.forename: Santai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: brain metastases; breast cancer; cyst; stereotactic radiosurgery; whole-brain radiotherapy