Clinical features and prognostic factors of brain metastasis from colorectal cancer

The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical features and prognostic factors in patients with brain metastasis from colorectal cancer (CRC).Clinical materials of 45 colorectal cancer patients who developed brain metastasis were collected, and the data and follow-up data of those patients were retrospectively analyzed.Most brain metastases were from rectal cancer (64.4%), and 80.0% of the 45 cases had extracranial metastases. The most common extracranial metastatic site was the lung (57.8%), followed by the liver (35.6%). All the brain metastases in patients with liver metastases were supratentorial, while in contrast, 44.8% of the patients without liver metastasis had subtentorial metastasis, showing a significant difference between them (P 2 brain metastases (P 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that brain metastases >2 and treatment modality type are independent prognostic factors for survival.Patients initially diagnosed with a Dukes D stage primary colorectal tumor and occurrence of extracranial metastasis (especially, pulmonary metastasis) within one year are associated to an increased risk of brain metastases and have a shorter survival time. Most brain metastases in patients with liver metastases are supratentorial, while many patients without liver metastasis have subtentorial metastasis. Brain metastases >2 and the type of treatment modality are independent prognostic factors for survival. The prognosis of patients who received chemoradiotherapy is better than those treated only with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Some subsets of patients may benefit from surgery plus chemotherapy/radiotherapy.