Metastases in the Brain from an Unknown Primary Origin

Abstract

There is still quite a large group of patients, in whom secondary brain involvement is the only manifestation of cancer. In this case, metastasis of unknown primary origin (cancer of unknown primary origin, CUP) is suggested, which does not mean that it actually does not exist. The importance of solving the issue of specifying the diagnosis of metastases of unknown primary origin cannot be overestimated. In a large frequency of cases, where the clinical picture of metastatic involvement of the brain is the only manifestation of a malignant tumor of unknown primary origin, often inaccessibility of metastatic lesions for a biopsy to obtain the tissue samples for morphological identification of the tumor does not allow to provide adequate medical care for such patients. The development of modern technologies gives us more and more new diagnostic possibilities in this regard; however, so far, this does not give any grounds for reasonable optimism. The incidence of CUPs does not decrease; often the primary source is detected only in an autopsy. This group of patients proves again that many aspects related to the mechanisms of emergence and development of human cancers have not yet been identified.