Brain metastases in patients with urothelial carcinoma.

Abstract

282 Background: Muscle invasive urothelial cancers are infrequent. Patients (pts) with metastatic disease have poor prognosis. Brain metastases (BM) are rare. The aim of this retrospective study is to analyse the characteristics, the treatment and the evolution of patients with BM treated in a single centre. Methods: Thirty pts with BM were identified among the 1591 pts with urothelial carcinoma seen at the Centre Léon Bérard, between 1994 and 2011. The study population was described, overall survival (OS) from diagnosis of BM was estimated by Kaplan-Meier method and prognostic factors were explored using a Cox model. Results: Twenty seven pts in our series were male. Median age at initial diagnosis was 60 years (range: 33.9-78.9 years). Twenty two pts had primary bladder tumours and 8 upper urinary tract tumours. Twenty four pts underwent surgery for their primary lesion, 2 received chemoradiotherapy and 4 did not receive any radical local treatment. Six pts had metastatic disease at initial presentation: 3 were operated on. Median delay between initial diagnosis and BM was 16.6 months (range: 0-56.4 months), 3 patients had BM at initial presentation. Median time between first metastases and BM was 10 months (range=0-52 months). Eleven patients developed BM as one of the first sites of metastases. BM were symptomatic in 28 pts: specific neurological symptoms (n=25), headaches (n=6), epilepsy (n=2). For the 2 other pts, they were discovered on a systematic brain MRI. Eighteen pts had cerebral metastases only, 5 pts had cerebellar metastases only, 6 had both; the last patient had cerebral, cerebellar and meningeal involvement. Half of the pts had only 1 brain lesion. Five pts were operated on: 4 received postoperative radiotherapy; 19 patients were given radiotherapy alone and 6 did not get any local therapy. In this series, median OS from diagnosis of BM was 3.4 months (IC95% [2.2-10.3]). Only the administration of chemotherapy after the diagnosis of BM was significantly associated with OS; probably because only fit enough patients were offered treatment. Conclusions: Prognosis of patients with urothelial carcinoma and BM is poor; however some patients have long survivals. Treatment is not codified as there is little data in the literature.