Brain metastases in cancer patients attending a Gamma Knife Center: A study from a single institute in Iran

BACKGROUND: This study was aimed to explore data on brain metastases in cancer patients attending the Iranian Gamma Knife Center. METERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study. In all 5216 case records of patients who referred to the Iranian Gamma Knife Center for treatment of brain tumors during year 2003-2011 were reviewed. Data were explored to identify patients who developed brain metastases due to cancer and assessed the information as applied to cancer patients including survival analysis. RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty patients were identified as having brain metastases due to cancer. The mean age of patients was 54.0 (standard deviation [SD] =12.7) years. Patients were followed for an average of 7 months after treatment with gamma-knife. The median survival time for different the Graded Prognostic Assessment (GPA) was: GPA: 0-1, 4.0 ± 0.4 months; GPA: 1.5-2.5, 6.0 ± 0.7 months; GPA: 3, 9.0 ± 0.9 months; and GPA: 3.5-4.0, 12.0 ± 1.8 months and the overall median survival was 7.0 (SD = 0.6) months. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that many cancer patients in Iran might develop brain metastasis. Although, this is not a very high incidence compared with the existing statistics from other countries, there is an urgent need to explore the issue further.