A new score predicting survival prognosis after whole-brain radiotherapy alone for brain metastases in elderly patients.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Elderly patients represent an important subgroup of patients with brain metastases. A survival score has been developed specifically for these patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 544 elderly patients (aged ≥65 years) receiving whole-brain radiotherapy alone were divided into a test (n=272) and a validation group (n=272). In the multivariate analysis of the test group, survival was significantly associated with gender, performance status, and number of organs involved by extracranial metastases. These factors were included in the score. Total scores representing the sum of the three factor scores were 3-13 points. Four prognostic groups were formed. RESULTS: The 6-month survival rates were 2% for those with 3-6 points, 17% for those with 7-9 points, 56% for those with 10-12 points and 90% for those with 13 points in the test group (p<0.001), and 4%, 21%, 50% and 86%, respectively, in the validation group (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: This score is reproducible and helps estimate the survival prognosis of elderly patients with brain metastasis.