[Metastatic brain tumor in the elderly].

Authors have reviewed 322 consecutive patients with malignant tumors confirmed by pathological studies between October 1973 and August 1987 in order to determine the frequency, clinical presentation, and lesion localization of metastatic brain tumor in the elderly. Among 322 patients with malignant tumor, 7 patients with primary brain tumor and 21 patients with metastatic brain tumors were found. The over-all frequency of metastases to the brain was 5.8%. This frequency of brain metastasis in the elderly was lower than those of the previous literature which have varied from 9 to 35%. The patients' ages with metastatic brain tumor ranged from 65 to 88 years with a median age of 77.5 years. The primary tumor sites of metastatic brain tumors were limited to 5 kinds of organs. These metastases were found in 27.3% of 11 patients with breast cancer, 17.5% of 80 patients with lung cancer, 6.7% of 15 patients with bile duct system cancer, 5.0% of 20 patients with pancreatic cancer, and 2.0% of 91 patients with gastric cancer. There was no brain metastasis in the other kinds of carcinoma. Among 21 metastatic brain tumors, there were 14 patients with lung cancer, 3 patients with breast cancer, 2 patients with gastric cancer, 1 patient with cholangiocarcinoma, and 1 patient with pancreatic cancer. In this series, the frequency of single and multiple metastases were 13 and 8 cases, respectively. The multiple brain metastases ranged from 2 to 6 nodules. In 21 metastatic brain tumors, there were 42 metastatic nodules in total.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)