Objectives: The objectives of this study are to analyze the clinical feature and overall survival rate of patients with brain metastases from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and to compare the treatment outcomes of gamma-knife radiosurgery (GKS) and whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT).
Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with brain metastases from EOC in a single institution between 1983 and 2005 was performed. Of 1413 patients with EOC, 18 (1.3%) developed brain metastases. Fifteen patients who were treated with GKS or WBRT were enrolled for this study. Seven patients were treated with GKS, and the remaining patients were treated with WBRT as a primary treatment modality.
Results: The median age at the time of diagnosis of the primary cancer and brain metastases was 55 and 56 years, respectively. The median interval between the diagnosis of the primary cancer and brain metastases was 28 months. It was significantly associated with the overall survival rate after the diagnosis of ovarian cancer (p=0.017). There were 5 patients (33.3%) with extracranial metastases. Five patients (33.3%) had a solitary brain lesion. The median survival time after the diagnosis of brain metastases was 14 months (range, 1-59 months). Patients who were treated with GKS after brain metastasis had a longer survival time (median, 29 months) than those treated with WBRT (median, 6 months) (p=0.0061).
Conclusion: For the control of brain metastases, GKS seems to be an effective modality. GKS improves the overall survival of the patients with brain metastases from EOC.