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People with inflammatory breast cancer are at higher risk of brain metastases
New research shows that among people with breast cancer, those with a rare subtype called inflammatory breast cancer are at higher risk of their cancer spreading to the brain or metastasizing. The study is published online by Wiley in CANCER, a journal of the American Cancer Society. Studies have shown higher rates of brain metastases in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, but detailed information is lacking. To gain insights into the incidence and risk factors for brain metastases in this patient population, Laura EG Warren, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and her colleagues analyzed data from 372 patients with stage III and 159 stage III inflammatory breast cancer...
People with inflammatory breast cancer are at higher risk of brain metastases
New research shows that among people with breast cancer, those with a rare subtype called inflammatory breast cancer are at higher risk of their cancer spreading to the brain or metastasizing. The study is published online by Wiley in CANCER, a journal of the American Cancer Society.
Studies have shown higher rates of brain metastases in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, but detailed information is lacking. To gain insight into the incidence and risk factors for brain metastases in this patient population, Laura EG Warren, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and her colleagues analyzed data from 372 patients with stage III inflammatory breast cancer and 159 with stage IV inflammatory breast cancer.
Over 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 those with stage IV disease. Patients with triple-negative breast cancer were at particularly high risk, and if they had brain metastases, their survival was shorter than patients with hormone receptor-positive or HER2-positive breast cancer who had brain metastases. A higher risk of brain metastases was also observed in patients whose cancer had metastasized to other parts of the body in addition to the brain, especially if this occurred at a young age.
The relatively high incidence of brain metastases observed in the study population highlights the need for future research on the potential role of surveillance brain imaging in high-risk patients. There is an open-label, single-arm Phase II trial at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute examining this question. It also emphasizes the need to obtain brain imaging in patients with inflammatory breast cancer presenting with neurological symptoms, given the high incidence of brain metastases in this population.
Dr. Laura E. G. Warren, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Most patients in this study diagnosed with brain metastases had neurological symptoms, but because some patients may have undetected, asymptomatic brain metastases, the actual incidence in patients with inflammatory breast cancer is likely even higher than that reported by Dr. Warren and her colleagues observed.
An accompanying editorial notes that when considering routine brain imaging studies in patients with inflammatory breast cancer, it will be important to determine whether earlier detection of brain metastases leads to an improvement in both survival and quality of life.
Source:
Reference:
Warren, LEG, et al. (2022) Incidence, characteristics and management of central nervous system metastases in patients with inflammatory breast cancer. Cancer. doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34441.
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