Surgical treatment of single brain metastasis: Factors associated with survival

The results of surgical excision of solitary intracerebral metastases followed by whole‐brain radiation therapy between 1972 and 1978 in a series of 78 patients were analyzed. The overall median survival of the series was 6 months with a 1‐year survival rate of 29%. Statistical analyses of the data revealed that patients who presented with a cerebral metastasis 1 year or more after diagnosis of the primary cancer had a significantly longer survival than those in whom the metastasis was detected within 1 year (P <.04). Patients with mild or no neurological deficits at time of craniotomy had a longer median survival and a 1‐year survival of 44% (P <.01). The presence of metastases at one or two other sites did not significantly affect overall survival except in those patients in whom the brain metastasis was detected more than 1 year after diagnosis of the primary tumor. Factors found to affect survival in this study may be useful in predicting survival of future patients similarly treated.