Association of neurologic manifestations and CEA levels with the diagnosis of brain metastases in lung cancer patients.

PURPOSE

Lung cancer (LC) is the most common source of brain metastases (BM). Because of the difficulty in predicting LC patients who will develop BM, we aimed to identify the clinical and serologic markers that could predict the presence of BM in LC patients.

METHODS

We analyzed a cohort of LC patients sent for neurooncological consultation for any neurologic symptom at a cancer center from June 2013 to July 2017.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

histologically confirmed LC, age ≥ 18 years and complete clinical records.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA

BM diagnosis before our consultation and absence of MRI. Oncologic history, clinical symptoms and comorbidities were analyzed.

RESULTS

From 199 patients, most (70%) had > 1 neurological symptom. The most common was headache (n = 46, 21%), followed by seizures (17%), altered mental status (16%) and focal motor weakness (13%). BM was found in 74% of the patients during follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed factors associated with a higher frequency of BM: age < 65 years [OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.3-7.5], headache (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.2-11.8), seizures (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.1-9.3) and CEA ≥ 15 ng/mL (OR 5.5, 95% CI 2.2-13.8). Focal sensory deficit was associated with a lower frequency of BM (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.06-0.92). The presence of certain clinical neurologic symptoms, together with CEA level, was associated with a higher risk of BM in LC patients.

CONCLUSION

The clinical manifestations of patients with LC should not be overlooked because some may have a substantial correlation with BM.