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Vol.38 No.6 contents | Japanese/English |
- Original Article -
A Clinical Study of Brain Metastasis in Patients with Primary Lung Cancer
Hideaki Yamasawa, Yoshiki Ishii, Masashi Bando and Satoshi KitamuraDepartment of Pulmonary Medicine, Jichi Medical School
Between 1985 and 1996, we encountered 90 cases of primary lung cancer with brain metastasis diagnosed by computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging. When the brain metastases were detected, 54 patients had neurological symptoms and 36 patients did not. We compared the clinical features and prognosis between the group with neurological symptoms and the group without symptoms. No significant intergroup differences were found in age, sex, histologic type, clinical T factor, clinical N factor, and the incidence of other organ metastasis. The incidence of neurological symptoms was slightly higher in cases in which brain metastasis was detected during treatment. The incidence of neurological symptoms was significantly higher in cases with infratentorial metastasis than in cases without. The mean size of metastatic lesion in the group with neurological symptoms was significantly larger than in the group without symptoms. Neurological symptoms were relieved in 83.3% of cases treated by radiotherapy in combination with chemotherapy or by radiotherapy alone. Brain metastasis-related death was found in 4 cases of the group with neurological symptoms, however, none of the patients in the group without symptoms had a brain metastasisrelated death. There was no significant intergroup difference in the survival time from the detection of metastases. Radiotherapy was effective for brain metastasis with or without neurological symptoms. Further examination is needed for critical evaluation of the effectivenes of radiotherapy in combination with chemotherapy on brain metasasis.
key words: Brain metastasis, Lung cancer, Neurological symptoms
Received: June 17, 1998
Accepted: August 13, 1998
JJLC 38 (6): 661-668, 1998
