Analysis of evolving clinicopathological features of metastatic brain tumors over 30 years of surgical management

Abstract

We reviewed 232 cases, in which patients underwent surgical resection and histopathological diagnosis of metastatic brain tumor between 1985 and 2014. We analyzed trends in clinicopathological changes present over three decades in a single institution. The most frequent site of metastatic tumors was the frontal lobe. The average patient age and the percentage of female patients increased over the 30-year study period. The most frequent primary cancer was lung cancer, followed by breast cancer; these were the top two primary cancer types over the three decades. However, use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy as standard treatments for postoperative treatment of metastatic brain tumors has increased over the past 20 years. Development of novel, targeted treatments for these cancer types have created new tools for use in the clinical care of patients with metastatic brain tumors. Incorporation of these tools in a multimodal approach is critical in contemporary management of metastatic brain tumors.