Predictive Indicators of Brain Metastasis-Free Survival in Patients With Lung Cancer at a Chinese Cancer Center

Introduction Metastasis tumors of the brain derive mostly from lung cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, and more commonly among lung cancer patients. Once brain metastasis is diagnosed, the prognosis of untreated patients is shown to be very poor. In this study, we describe the clinical and pathological features of patients with lung cancer at our institution from 2009 to 2021. We also examined factors like gender, type, size, and location of the primary tumor and leukoaraiosis level at the first visit are associated with patients’ brain metastasis-free survival (the time free of brain metastases since the first diagnosis of lung cancer). Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed patients with a final histologic diagnosis of lung cancer from September 2009 to January 2015. The evaluation included history, physical examination, and contrast-enhanced computerized tomography of the chest. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the head was performed at the first visit and following treatment. The patients’ age, gender, tumor size, histology type, location of the lung tumor, and leukoaraiosis level at the first visit were recorded and correlated to the patients’ brain-metastasis-free survival time. Results The study included 68 patients - 39 males and 29 females -with a mean age of 55.15 years (range 35-69 years). Adenocarcinoma was diagnosed in 47 patients (22 males and 25 females), Squamous carcinoma was diagnosed in 12 patients (9 males and 3 females), non-small cell lung carcinoma was diagnosed in 3 patients (2 males and one female), one male patient had the diagnosis of adenosquamous tumor and 1 male patient had the diagnosis of neuroendocrine tumor. Tumor size was <3 cm in 19 patients, 3-5 cm in 29 patients, 5-10 cm in 17 patients, and three other patients’ size was hard to measure. Of the 68 patients, 10 patients were detected as brain metastasis by magnetic resonance imaging at first diagnosis, 22 patients were diagnosed as brain metastasis during the follow-up visits, 36 patients were not found as brain metastasis until the last visit. According to the Cox regression univariate analysis, two factors were correlated to shorter brain metastasis-free survival: Not-squamous lung carcinoma (SCC) and higher location of the tumor. The multivariate statistical analysis correlated two factors to shorter brain metastasis-free survival: non-SCC histology type and age≥62. Conclusions In conclusion, we found that SCC had a lower incidence of brain metastasis in patients than other lung cancer types. According to the Cox regression multivariate analysis, age <62 and SCC were two protective factors of brain metastasis. According to the Cox regression univariate and analysis. The lower location of the tumor was the protective factor of brain metastasis. According to the Cox regression univariate analysis, other parameters, such as gender or tumor size, did not have a role in brain metastasis-free survival in these patients.