Abstract
BackgroundBrain metastasis (BM) are uncommon among ovarian cancer (OC) patients. Their frequency, risk factors and clinical repercussions are not well described. We assessed OC patients who developed BM, the role of BRCA status and survival implications.MethodsStudy cohort included OC patients treated at our center, from 2002–2020. We retrospectively evaluated clinical parameters, risk for BM development and association with survival data.ResultsAmong 972 OC patients, 28 (2.9%) were diagnosed with BM. Comparing the BM to non-BM group, median age of 60 across both groups, stage III-IV at diagnosis was more common among BM group (96.4% vs. 84.8%, p=0.0065) while platinum sensitivity was similar (92.3% in BM vs. 80.8% in non-BM, p=0.2193). Out of 658 patients tested for BRCA, 33.6% (n=221) were BRCA mutation carriers (BRCA+). Of the patients with BM, 22 tested for BRCA, 13 were carriers. BRCA+ was significantly higher in the BM group compared to the non-BM group (59.1% vs. 32.9%, p=0.0123). Among BRCA+ the rate of BM was higher than among BRCA- (5.8% vs. 2.1%, p=0.0123, HR=3.029; 95%CI: 1.4–6.5). Median time from OC diagnosis to BM and from disease recurrence to BM, was longer for BRCA+ compared to BRCA- (44.3mo vs. 32.3mo and 11.8mo vs. 0.7mo, respectively). Median survival (mOS) was not significantly different among patients with BM compared to those without BM (59.4mo vs. 71.2mo, p=0.36). Following diagnosis of BM, mOS was 20.6mo among BRCA+ and 12.3mo among BRCA- (p=0.4266). No correlation was demonstrated with PARP inhibitors or bevacizumab treatment and subsequent development of BM.ConclusionBM are an infrequent event among OC patients. However, the risk is three-folds higher among BRCA+. Interestingly, BM do not significantly alter survival among OC patients. Our work suggests that the higher rate of BM in BRCA+ may be related to longer survival. Another hypothesis requiring further evaluation, is possible higher brain tropism among this population.
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