Background: Brain metastasis occurs when cancerous cells come from a known (or sometimes an unknown)primary tumor to the brain and implant and grow there. This event is potentially lethal and causes neurologicsymptoms and signs. These patients are treated in order to decrease their neurologic problems, increase qualityof life and overall survival. Materials and Methods: In this study we evaluated clinical characteristics of 206patients with brain metastases referred to our center from 2004 to 2011. Results: The mean age was 53.6 years.The primary tumors were breast cancer (32%), lung cancer (24.8%), lymphoma (4.4%), sarcoma (3.9%),melanoma (2.9%), colorectal cancer (2.4%) and renal cell carcinoma (1.5%). In 16.5% of the patients, brainmetastasis was the first presenting symptom and the primary site was unknown. Forty two (20.4%) patients hada single brain metastasis, 18 patients (8.7%) had two or three lesions, 87 (42.2%) patients had more than threelesions. Leptomeningeal involvement was seen in 49 (23.8%) patients. Thirty five (17%) had undergone surgicalresection. Whole brain radiation therapy was performed for all of the patients. Overall survival was 10.1 months(95%CI; 8.65-11.63). One and two year survival was 27% and 12% respectively. Conclusions: Overall survivalof patients who were treated by combination of surgery and whole brain radiation therapy was significantlybetter than those who were treated with whole brain radiation therapy only [13.8 vs 9.3 months (p=0.03)]. Age,sex, primary site and the number of brain lesions did not show significant relationships with overall survival.
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