Evaluation of the Effect of Lymph Node Status on the Survival of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients With Brain Metastases: Applications of a Novel Grade Prognostic Assessment Score Model Involving N Stage

Grade prognostic assessment (GPA) is widely used to evaluate the prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases (BMs). This study aimed to investigate whether lymph node status (LNS) could be included as one of the GPA variables for NSCLC with BMs. Overall, 586 patients with NSCLC and BMs were retrospectively analyzed. Overall survival stratified by LNS was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis was also performed to identify independent prognostic factors using the Cox proportional hazards progression model. In the updated GPA index, prognostic factors and criteria of GPA score were weighted by effect magnitude relative risk (RR) and statistical significance. In NSCLC patients with BMs, those with lymph node involvement had worse overall survival (mOS, 13.4 months vs. 25.9 months, P