Abstract
Background/Aim: Seizures are a serious condition for patients with brain metastases. Prevalence, risk factors and a potential association of seizures with survival prior to whole-brain irradiation (WBI) for cerebral metastases were retrospectively investigated. Patients and Methods: In 1,934 patients, the prevalence of pre-treatment seizures (pre-WBI) was determined. Seven pre-treatment characteristics were evaluated for associations with seizures. Ten characteristics including pre-treatment symptoms (none vs. seizures only vs. seizures+others vs. others only) and seizures (yes vs. no) were analyzed for survival. Results: In 251 patients (13.0%), pretreatment seizures were documented. The occurrence of seizures was significantly associated with 1-3 brain metastases and lack of extra-cerebral spread. On multivariate analysis, age, gender, performance score, number of metastases and extra-cerebral spread were significantly associated with survival; pre-treatment symptoms and seizures showed associations on univariate but not on multivariate analyses. Conclusion: Few brain metastases and lack of extra-cerebral spread were independent risk factors for pre-treatment seizures. Seizures appeared positively associated with survival.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Anticancer Research |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Pages (from-to) | 3429-3434 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISSN | 0250-7005 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 06.2020 |
Funding
As part of the project NorDigHealth, this study was funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Deutschland-Danmark program (reference: 087-1.1-18).
