Although survival of breast cancer patients with brain metastases was generally short, the performance status, number of brain metastases, treatment modalities and systemic chemotherapy after brain metastases were significantly associated with survival. Patients with single-brain metastasis and good performance status deserve aggressive treatment. The characteristics of initial primary breast lesions did not affect survival after brain metastasis.

Our findings indicate that ISCM is a very rare type of CNS involvement and represents a dismal finding of systemic malignancy. ISCM patients arising from breast cancer appeared to fare better than those with lung cancer.