Risk Factors for CNS Metastasis ID’d for Inflammatory Breast Cancer

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), especially those with triple-negative subtype, visceral metastasis, and younger age at metastasis diagnosis, have an increased risk for central nervous system metastasis (mCNS), according to a study published online Oct. 10 in Cancer.

Laura E.G. Warren, M.D., from the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center in Boston, and colleagues retrospectively reviewed patients diagnosed with IBC between 1997 and 2019 to quantify the incidence of and identify risk factors for mCNS. Five hundred thirty-one patients were identified: 372 and 159 with stage III and de novo stage IV disease, respectively.

The researchers found that 124 patients had mCNS during the study. For stage III and stage IV patients, the one-, two-, and five-year incidence of mCNS was 5, 9, and 18 percent and 17, 30, and 42 percent, respectively. For stage III patients, triple-negative tumor subtype was identified as a significant risk factor for mCNS in a multivariable analysis. Visceral metastasis as first metastatic site, triple-negative subtype, and younger age at metastases diagnosis were risk factors for mCNS among patients diagnosed with metastatic disease.

"Further investigation into prevention of mCNS and whether earlier detection of mCNS results in better patient outcomes is warranted," the authors write. "Patients with IBC should be included in clinical trials focused on mCNS."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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