The clinical outcomes of ovarian cancer in patients with brain metastasis

Objective: To present the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with ovarian cancer with brain metastasis. Methods: This study was designed as a retrospective observational study. Patients' data were obtained from hospital records. Patients who were diagnosed with brain metastatic ovarian cancer in two tertiary referral centers between 2012 and 2020 were included in the study. Results: In total, there were 56 patients diagnosed as having brain metastatic ovarian cancer. The median age was 56 years, 91% of patients were at an advanced stage at initial diagnosis. The median time from the initial diagnosis to brain metastasis was 34.0 months. Sixty-seven percent of patients were determined as having multiple brain metastatic lesions. Whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) , stereo-tactic radiosurgery (SRS) and combined approach were utilized as primary treatment. The 1 and 2-year survival rates were 38% and 17%, respectively. Patient age and tumor histology were found to be significant prognostic factors that impact the survival in univariate analyses. The 1-year survival of patients aged younger than 55 years was 49.2%, and 28.2% for patients aged over 55 years (p = 0.04). Patients with nonserous histology had significantly longer one year overall survival compared to serous histology (61.4% vs 29.8%) (p = 0.01). Conclusion: The brain is one of the rarest locations for ovarian cancer metastasis. Radiotherapeutic approaches are the mainstay of treatment but survival rates are low. Age and tumor histology were determined as significant parameters that affected survival rates.

Ovarian cancer; Brain metastasis; Whole-brain radiotherapy; Stereotactic radio-surgery

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