• Mikiya Ishihara, Hirofumi Mukai, Shunji Nagai, Masakatsu Onozawa, Keiji Nihei, Toshiyuki Shimada, and Noriaki Wada.
• Divisions of Oncology/Hematology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan. mishihara @ clin.medic.mie-u.ac.jp
• Oncology. 2013 Jan 1; 84 (3): 135-40.

ObjectiveIdentifying factors that predispose patients to central nervous system (CNS) metastases may hasten disease detection and improve treatment outcomes.MethodsWe reviewed the records of patients who were diagnosed with clinical stage I-III primary breast cancer at the National Cancer Center Hospital East from 2003 to 2005. Cox proportional hazard models were fitted to reveal risk factors for CNS metastases.ResultsThe median follow-up period after the operation was 53.5 months. Among the 591 identified patients with breast cancer, 76 experienced a relapse. Seventeen patients developed CNS metastases. Multivariate analysis indicated that the triple negative (TN) subtype (hazard ratio = 5.5) and a high Ki67 labeling index (LI; hazard ratio = 3.9) were associated with a higher risk for CNS metastases. At 4 years, the TN subtype was associated with significantly worse overall and disease-free survival rates and a higher cumulative incidence of CNS metastases compared with hormone receptor-positive/ human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative tumors. Breast cancers with a Ki67 LI ≥30% were also associated with lower overall and disease-free survival rates and a higher cumulative incidence of CNS metastases compared with cancers with a Ki67 LI <30%.ConclusionTN or Ki67-overexpressing breast cancer produced earlier CNS metastases and lower disease-free and overall survival rates.Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

39 keywords...

hide…