Patients with brain metastasis from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) or melanoma have historically had very poor prognoses of less than one year. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) can be an effective treatment for patients with these tumors. This study analyzes the effect of pretreatment prognostic factors on overall survival (OS) for RCC and melanoma patients with metastasis to the brain treated with SRS. A total of 122 patients with brain metastases from either RCC or melanoma were grouped by age at brain metastasis diagnosis, whether they received whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) in addition to SRS, or they underwent surgical resection, Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS), number of brain metastases, and primary tumor. Median survival times for melanoma patients and RCC patients were 8.20 ± 3.06 and 12.70 ± 2.63 months, respectively. Patients with >5 metastases had a significantly shorter median survival time (6.60 ± 2.45 months) than the reference group (1 metastasis, 10.70 ± 13.40 months, p = 0.024). Patients with KPS ≤ 60 experienced significantly shorter survival than the reference group (KPS = 90–100), with median survival times of 5.80 ± 2.46 months (p < 0.001) and 45.20 ± 43.52 months, respectively. We found a median overall survival time of 12.7 and 8.2 months for RCC and melanoma, respectively. Our study determined that a higher number of brain metastases (>5) and lower KPS were statistically significant predictors of a lower OS prognosis.

Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to the brain have a very poor prognosis of three months if left untreated. SRS is an effective treatment modality in numerous patients. This case exemplifies the utility of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in prolonging survival and maintaining quality of life in a patient with RCC. This 64-year-old female patient initially presented to her primary care physician 22 months after a left nephrectomy for RCC with complaints of mild, intermittent headaches and difficulty with balance. An MRI revealed five cerebellar lesions suspicious for intracranial metastasis. The patient's first GKRS treatment targeted four lesions with 22 Gy at the 50% isodose line. She underwent a total of seven GKRS treatments over the next 60 months for recurrent metastases to the brain. 72 months and 12 months have now passed since her brain metastases were first discovered and since her last GKRS treatment, respectively, and this woman is alive with considerable quality of life and no evidence of metastatic reoccurrence. This case shows that repeated GKRS treatments, with minimal surgical intervention, can effectively treat multiple intracranial lesions in select patients, prolonging survival and avoiding iatrogenic neurocognitive decline while maintaining a high quality of life.

Background:Brain metastases significantly affect morbidity and mortality rates for patients with metastatic breast cancer. Treatment for brain metastases lengthens survival, and options such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) can increase survival to 12 months or longer. This study retrospectively analyzes the prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) for patients with one or multiple brain metastases from breast cancer treated with SRS.Methods:Between December 2001 and May 2015, 111 patients with brain metastases from breast cancer were grouped by potential prognostic factors including age at diagnosis, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score, number of brain metastases, and whether or not they received adjuvant treatments such as whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) or surgical resection. Survival rates were determined for all groups, and hazard ratios were calculated using univariate and multivariate analyses to compare differences in OS.Results:Median OS was 16.8 ± 4.22 months. Univariate analysis of patients with a KPS ≤60 and multivariate analysis of KPS 70–80 showed significantly shorter survival than those with KPS 90–100 (5.9 ± 1.22 months, 21.3 ± 11.69 months, and 22.00 ± 12.56 months, P = 0.024 and < 0.001). Other results such as age ≥65 years and higher number of brain metastases trended toward shorter survival but were not statistically significant. No difference in survival was found for patients who had received WBRT in addition to SRS (P = 0.779).Conclusion:SRS has been shown to be safe and effective in treating brain metastases from breast cancer. We found our median survival to be 16.8 ± 4.22 months, an increase from other clinical reports. In addition, 38.4% of our population was alive at 2 years and 15.6% survived 5 years. Significant prognostic factors can help inform clinical treatment decisions. This study found that KPS was a significant prognostic indicator of OS in these patients.