Clinical Outcomes of Surgical Resection for Brain Metastases from Non-small Cell Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Recent advances in systemic chemotherapy, including molecularly targeted therapy, have dramatically improved survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcomes of surgical resection for brain metastases of non-small cell lung cancer cases performed at the Department of Neurosurgery of Kindai University Hospital, Osaka, Japan. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Craniotomy and tumor resection were performed for 56 patients with brain metastases of non-small cell lung cancer. Adenocarcinoma was the most common histological type, appearing in 40 cases, of which 18 were positive for driver gene mutations. RESULTS: Median survival for all 56 patients was 14.5 months, and single brain metastasis and adenocarcinoma were identified as favorable prognostic factors. Analysis limited to the 40 cases of adenocarcinoma identified single brain metastasis as a favorable prognostic factor. Although no significant difference was found for systemic chemotherapy, patients who received molecularly targeted therapy showed a better prognosis than those who received cytotoxic chemotherapy. Analyses of both the entire group and of adenocarcinoma patients alone found that whole-brain radiotherapy showed no significant association with survival. CONCLUSION: Single brain metastasis and adenocarcinoma were identified as favorable prognostic factors, but did not confirm any benefit from whole-brain radiotherapy. These results suggest that multimodal treatment strategies utilizing various methods of treatment, including systemic chemotherapy, may help prolong patient survival in the future.