Prognostic value and impact of cerebral metastases in pancreatic cancer

Abstract

Background: Pancreatic cancer is a fatal disease most often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Most patients already suffer from irresectable tumor or distant metastases being most commonly found in the liver or the lung. However, cerebral metastases occur extremely rare.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of our database to identify all patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and cerebral metastases who underwent surgical treatment in our department from January 2004 to November 2016.

Results: Only 0.2% (4 of 2492) were diagnosed with cerebral metastases. Two patients had surgical resection of the cerebral metastases. One patient underwent palliative radiation therapy and the fourth patient received only palliative therapy. Mean interval between initial diagnosis and development of brain metastases was 8.5 months (range 1–20). Mean survival period after diagnosis of brain metastases was 4.75 months (range 1–10).

Conclusions: Cerebral metastases of pancreatic cancer occur extremely rare. They are associated with an advanced tumor stage, commonly liver and lung metastases. All patients presenting with neurological symptoms, multifocal metastases, and significantly elevated CA 19-9 levels are suspicious of sustaining cerebral metastases and should undergo brain imaging.

Keywords:

• Pancreatic cancer
• brain metastasis
• cerebral metastasis
• pancreatic surgery
• metastatic cancer

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.