The presence of brain metastases (BM) in patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumor (NSGCT) is associated with poor prognosis. While radiation therapy (RT) is an important treatment for patients with NSGCT BM, there is a paucity of data on the optimal regimen. We sought to investigate the impact of RT on clinical outcomes in patients with NSGCT BM.
Patients with NSGCT BM who received RT at our institution from 2002–2017 were included. Sixty-three consecutive patients were identified. Clinical factors associated with intracranial control (ICC) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using Cox regression analysis and Kaplan Meier method.
Median age was 31 years and number of BM was 3. Fifteen patients presented with BM at diagnosis, while 48 developed BM at a median time of 8.4 months from diagnosis. At a median follow-up of 3.6 years, ICC and OS were 39.7% and 30.1%. On multivariate analysis, ICC (hazard ratio [HR]=0.93, p=0.03) and OS (HR=0.93, p=0.005) were both significantly associated with biologically effective dose (BED) of RT. The 4-year OS of patients who received BED <39Gy, 39Gy, 40–50 Gy, and ≥50 Gy were 0%, 14.7%, 34.1%, and 70.0%, respectively. Patients who achieved intracranial control after RT were able to achieve long-term survival (4-year OS 68.1% vs. 0%, p<0.0001).