402 - Risk of Meningeal Involvement in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Meningeal Carcinomatosis (MC) occurs in 4-15% of patients with solid tumors, usually as a late event in the natural history of disease. Improvement in cancer treatments and patient survival and advances in neuro-imaging techniques have recently led to an increased incidence of MC, mostly in metastatic breast cancer. About 2-5% of breast cancer patients develop MC: median overall survival is 4-6 weeks without treatment and about 2-6 months when specific therapies are used. Objective: The aim of our study is to determine clinical, histological and immunological patterns of primary breast cancer which increase risk of MC. Patients and methods We performed a retrospective analysis of a cohort of 1037 consecutive patients treated for breast cancer from April 1994 to May 2010 at San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Turin. Diagnosis of MC was carried out in presence of neoplastic cells at cerebrospinal fluid citology. In case of negative or inconclusive citology, despite the presence of a characteristic clinical picture of MC, diagnosis was made using neuro-radiological findings, obtained by magnetic resonance imaging. Results We found 29 of 1037 breast cancer patients (2,8%) who developed MC. Among continuous variables associated with increased risk of MC (p Conclusions We identified breast cancer patients at high risk to develop MC. These patients may benefit from an early diagnosis of MC to obtain better results with current treatments and to improve quality of life. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.