LabBM Score and Extracranial Score As New Tools for Predicting Survival in Patients with Brain Metastases Treated with Focal Radiotherapy

Background Two recently validated, untraditional prognostic scores include serum albumin and lactate dehydrogenase, among other parameters. The latter are hemoglobin, platelet counts, and C-reactive protein (three-tiered LabBM score), whereas the four-tiered extracranial score includes more than one extracranial site of metastatic involvement. Until now, head-to-head comparisons of these two scores in patients treated with focal radiotherapy for newly diagnosed brain metastases are not available. Methods This was a retrospective single-institution analysis of 51 patients, most of whom were managed with first-line stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Survival was stratified by the LabBM score and extracranial score. Results Both scores predicted survival, but the analyses were hampered by small subgroups. In particular, very few patients belonged to the unfavorable groups. Survival shorter than two months, which was recorded in 14%, was not well predicted by the LabBM score and extracranial score. Conclusions Very few patients treated with focal radiotherapy (largely SRS) had unfavorable prognostic features according to the two untraditional scores, which do not include the number of brain metastases and performance status. Additional research is needed to improve the tools that predict short survival because overtreatment during the terminal phase of metastatic disease continues to represent a relevant issue.