The Impact of the Stage and Tumor Size on Rare Brain Metastasis of Cervical Cancer.

AIM To investigate the clinical features, prognostic factors and survival times of cervical cancer patients with brain metastasis. MATERIAL AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 820 patients with cervical cancer. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 12.0 statistical software (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Overall survival, time interval from diagnosis of cervical cancer to identification of brain metastasis, and median survival time after diagnosis of brain metastasis were calculated using Kaplan-Meier curve analysis. The log-rank test was used to compare differences in survival. Differences were assumed statistically significant when p-values were < 0.05. RESULTS The incidence of brain metastases from cervical cancer in our institution was 1.82% (15/820) over a ten-year period. The median time interval from diagnosis of cervical cancer to detection of brain metastasis was 12.5 months (range: 2.9-91.9 months). Stage and tumor diameter were found to be significant relating to the interval from diagnosis of cervical cancer to detection of brain metastasis (p=0.001 for both). CONCLUSION This study provides much information about the prognosis of patients with brain metastases from cervical cancer and highlights the importance of initial stage and tumor diameter when determining the time interval until development of brain metastasis.