Background: The prognostic factors for patients with brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer treated with whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT)-based combined modality therapy were investigated.
Materials and methods: Out of 135 patients treated with WBRT, 47 (34.8%) received a radiation boost, 84 (62.2%) underwent systemic chemotherapy, and 39 (28.9%) were given epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs).
Results: The mean survival time was 9.3 months, and the 1-year and 2-year survival rates were 46.3 and 16.1%, respectively. In univariate analysis, improved survival was associated with age < 60 years, no extracranial metastasis, Karnofsky performance score ≥ 70, ≥ 3 cycles of chemotherapy after diagnosis of brain metastases, combined treatment with EGFR-TKIs, and no metastases in the cerebellum. In multivariate analysis, the above prognostic factors maintained significance with the exception of age. In an additional analysis of the 58 patients with 1-3 brain metastases, combination of WBRT with radiation boost was associated with better survival.
Conclusion: We confirm previously described prognostic factors. Moreover, we found the absence of cerebellar metastases to be an independent prognostic factor for favorable outcome.