ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Brain metastases (BM) cause significant morbidity and mortality in patients with melanoma. We aimed to identify prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for BM from melanoma. METHODS: We identified 135 patients treated with SRS at Emory University between 1998 and 2010 for BM from melanoma. We recorded patient age, number and size of all BM, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), presence of extracranial metastases, serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), use of whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT), use of temozolomide, and surgical resection of BM. We used the Kaplan-Meier method to calculate OS, and we compared time-to-event data with the log-rank test. We performed Cox multivariate analysis to identify factors independently associated with OS. RESULTS: Median OS for all patients was 6.9 months. Patients with KPS ≥ 90, 70 to 80, and <70 had median OS of 10.4, 6.1, and 4.5 months, respectively (P=0.02). Patients with LDH<240 had median OS of 7.8 months versus 3.5 months for LDH ≥ 240 (P=0.01). Patients receiving WBRT had median OS of 7.3 months versus 6.5 months for patients not receiving WBRT (P=0.05). KPS and LDH (but not WBRT) were significantly associated with OS on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to previously identified prognostic factors for OS in patients with BM from melanoma, serum LDH is independently associated with OS. If this finding is confirmed in a prospective manner, the serum LDH level should be included in future prognostic algorithms for patients with melanoma and BM who are to receive SRS.