Breast cancer represents the second most frequent
etiology of
brain metastasis (BM). It is estimated that 10-30 % of
patients with
breast cancer are diagnosed with BM.
Breast cancer BM are increasing due to the
aging population,
detection of subclinical
disease, and better control of systemic
disease. BM is a major cause of
morbidity and
mortality affecting neurocognition,
speech, coordination,
behavior, and
quality of life. The
therapy of BM remains controversial regarding use and timing of surgical resection, application of whole-
brain radiotherapy,
stereotactic radiosurgery and systemic
drugs in
patients with particular
tumor subtypes. Despite numerous trials, the range of interpretation of these has resulted in differing
treatment perspectives. This
paper is a
review of the
state of the
art and a multidisciplinary
guideline on
strategies to improve the
therapeutic index in this situation (AU)