Objectives: Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cancer among women. Almost 20% of patients develop brain metastases (BM) and die shortly afterward. There is a dearth of data on the survival outcome of BC patients with BM from the Arab world.
Methods: Consecutive women diagnosed with BC who developed radiologically-confirmed BM during their illness were identified through the hospital's electronic patient's records. Clinicopathological features and treatment outcomes were recorded. Survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and factors affecting survival were studied using log-rank analysis.
Results: Between January 2003 and June 2015, a total of 692 patients were treated for BC at our institute. Forty-eight (6.9%) developed BM. The median age at the diagnosis of BM was 45.2 years. More than half of cohort (54.2%) had HER2 positive disease, while 27.1% had the triple-negative disease. The median time interval between the diagnosis of BC and the development of BM was 21 months, and median survival after development of brain disease was seven months. On univariate analysis, pathological grade, previous systemic treatment, brain as the first site of metastases, brain as the only site of metastases, treatment of BM, systemic treatment after BM, and diagnosis-specific graded prognostic assessment (DS-GPA) score significantly affected survival. On multivariate Cox regression analysis, the brain as the first site of metastases, treatment for brain disease, treatment type, and DS-GPA score significantly affected survival post-BM.
Conclusions: Our data indicate that Omani women are diagnosed with BC at a younger age, develop BM earlier, and carry a poor outcome.
Keywords: Brain Neoplasms; Breast Cancer; Oman; Radiotherapy.