Minmin Shen,1– 3,* Qiaojing Lin,1,2,* Xi Zou,1– 3 Yufan Wu,1,2 Zhihong Lin,1,2 Linglong Shao,1,2 JinSheng Hong,1– 3 Jinmei Chen1– 3 

1Department of Radiotherapy, Cancer Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350005, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiotherapy, National Regional Medical Center, Binhai Campus of the First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350212, People’s Republic of China; 3Key Laboratory of Radiation Biology of Fujian Higher Education Institutions, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350005, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: JinSheng Hong; Jinmei Chen, Department of Radiotherapy, Cancer Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350005, People’s Republic of China, Email 13799375732@163.com; cjm1303@126.com

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to assess the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors of lung adenocarcinoma patients with brain metastases (BMs) after intracranial local therapy.
Patients and Methods: A total of 83 lung adenocarcinoma patients with BMs who underwent craniotomy combined with radiotherapy or intracranial radiotherapy alone were retrospectively analyzed. The intracranial tumor response was determined according to the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology of Brain Metastases (RANO-BM) criteria. The median overall survival (OS), intracranial progression-free survival (iPFS), and related prognostic factors were analyzed with the Kaplan‒Meier estimator method and Cox proportional hazards regression model.
Results: Among 83 patients, 20 patients received craniotomy combined with radiotherapy, and 63 patients received intracranial radiotherapy alone. Following intracranial local therapy, 11 patients (13.3%) achieved complete response (CR); among them, 8 patients underwent neurosurgical resection. In addition, 32 patients (38.55%) achieved partial response (PR), 32 patients (38.55%) experienced stable disease (SD), and 8 (9.6%) experienced progressive disease (PD). The median follow-up period was 25.4 months (range 0.8– 49.6 months). The median follow-up time for the iPFS was 16.2 months (range 0.6– 41.2 months). The median OS, iPFS were 28.2 months and 24.7 months. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) / anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutations (HR 3.216, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.269– 8.150, p = 0.014) and iPFS (HR 0.881, 95% CI 0.836– 0.929, p < 0.001) were found to be beneficial factors for OS. An intracranial-tumor CR was associated with a longer iPFS (PR: HR 0.052, 95% CI 0.009– 0.297, p = 0.001; SD: HR 0.081, 95% CI 0.025– 0.259, p < 0.001; PD: HR 0.216, 95% CI 0.077– 0.606, p = 0.004).
Conclusion: Prolonged iPFS was associated with better OS in lung adenocarcinoma patients with BMs following intracranial local therapy, and mutations of EGFR / ALK or an intracranial-tumor CR are independent prognostic factors for prolonged survival.

Keywords: lung adenocarcinoma, brain metastases, intracranial local therapy, survival, prognostic factors