MADRID, 10 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
New research indicates that among people with breast cancer, those with a rare subtype called inflammatory breast cancer have a higher risk of their cancer spreading, or metastasizing, to the brain. , a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
Studies have shown a higher rate of brain metastases in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, but detailed information is lacking. To understand the incidence and risk factors for brain metastases in this patient population, Laura EG Warren, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the United States, and colleagues analyzed data from 372 cancer patients with inflammatory breast cancer in stage III and 159 with stage IV inflammatory breast cancer.
During a median follow-up of 5 years, the incidence of brain metastases at 1, 2 and 5 years was 5%, 9% and 18% among patients with stage III disease and 17%, 30% and 42% among patients those with stage IV disease.
Patients with triple-negative breast cancer faced a particularly high risk and, when they experienced brain metastases, their survival time was shorter than that of patients with hormone receptor-positive or HER2-positive breast cancer who experienced brain metastases.
An increased risk of brain metastases was also seen in patients whose cancer had metastasized to parts of the body other than the brain, especially when this occurred at a young age.
“The relatively high incidence of brain metastases observed in the study population highlights the need to further investigate the potential role of surveillance brain imaging for high-risk patients,” he explains.
There is an open-label single-arm phase II study at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that is looking into this question, “says Dr. Warren. It also highlights the need for brain imaging in patients with inflammatory breast cancer presenting with neurological symptoms, given the high incidence of brain metastases in this population “.
Most of the patients in this study who were diagnosed with brain metastases had neurological symptoms, but because some patients may have asymptomatic brain metastases undetected, the true incidence in patients with inflammatory breast cancer is likely even higher than that observed by Dr. Warren. and his colleagues.
An accompanying editorial notes that when considering routine brain imaging in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, it will be important to determine whether early detection of brain metastases leads to improvements in both survival and quality of life.
