The Economics of Brain Metastases

Brain metastases represent a significant healthcare problem, with almost 200,000 patients in the United States annually suffering from symptomatic parenchymal lesions. Lung, breast, melanoma, renal, and gastrointestinal cancers make up most of the clinically relevant lesions. Although median survival once brain metastases are diagnosed is less than a year, timely therapy can restore neurological function and can prevent further neurological complications for the duration of a patient’s survival. Important prognostic features include absence of extracranial disease progression, young age, high pretreatment neurological status, a low number of lesions, and a long interval from primary disease diagnosis to the development of brain metastases.