P11.23.B Neurological symptoms independently associate with overall survival in patients with melanoma brain metastases

• Published in: Neuro-oncology (Charlottesville, Va.) Vol. 24; no. Supplement_2; p. ii61
• Main Authors: Steindl, A, Heimbach, K, Ressler, J, Gatterbauer, B, Dieckmann, K, Widhalm, G, Preusser, M, Berghoff, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 05.09.2022
• ISSN: 1522-8517; 1523-5866
• DOI: 10.1093/neuonc/noac174.212

Abstract Background Based on the the rising detection of asymptomatic brain metastases (BM) and the remarkable intracranial responses of targeted- and immunotherapy in specific subgroups of asymptomatic BM patients, we aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognostic value of neurological symptoms in BM from melanoma. Material and Methods 670 patients with newly diagnosed melanoma BM were identified from the Vienna Brain Metastasis Registry. We performed retrospective chart review and statistical outcome analyses. Results 370/670 (55.2%) patients presented with neurological symptoms including neurological deficits (316/370; 85.4%), signs of increased intracranial pressure (126/370; 34.1%) and epileptic seizures (53/370; 14.3%). 57.6% (80/139) of patients with BRAF mutated melanoma presented with asymptomatic BM at diagnosis. Absence of neurological symptoms at BM diagnosis was associated with a longer median overall survival after time of BM diagnosis (7 vs. 5 months; p< 0.001; log-rank test). In multivariate analysis with the diagnosis-specific graded prognostic assessment (DS-GPA: HR:1.4; 95% CI, 1.25-1.48; p<0.001) and the graded prognostic assessment for melanoma using molecular markers (Melanoma-molGPA: HR:0.8; 95% CI, 0.66 -0.92; p<0.001), the presence of neurological symptoms (HR 0.8; 95% CI, 0.69 -0.96; p=0.003/ HR:0.6; 95% CI, 0.59-0.72; p<0.001) was found to be independently associated with survival prognosis from time of BM diagnosis respectively. Conclusion: Neurological symptoms at the time of BM diagnosis are an independent and strong prognostic factor in melanoma BM patients. Our results argue for the integration of neurological symptoms into the prognostic assessment of patients with BM from melanoma.