Prognostic factors of colorectal cancer patients with brain metastases

•ECOG performance status 0 or 1 is the best prognostic factor.•Single BM and less than 3 chemotherapy lines are also good prognostic factors.•GI-GPA and DS-GPA are relevant scores for brain metastases from colorectal cancer. Brain metastases (BMs) from colorectal cancer (CRC) are rare (≈2%) but are increasing with the improvement of CRC prognosis. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors of BM from CRC. This multicenter retrospective study included all consecutive patients with BM from CRC diagnosed between 2000 and 2017. Prognostic factors of OS were evaluated in univariate (log-rank test) and multivariate analyses (Cox regression model). These prognostic factors could help the management of patients with BM from CRC. A total of 358 patients were included with a median age of 65.5 years. Primary tumors were mostly located in the rectum (42.4%) or left colon (37.2%) and frequently KRAS-mutated (56.9%). The median time from metastatic CRC diagnosis to BM diagnosis was 18.5 ± 2.5 months. BMs were predominantly single (56.9%) and only supratentorial (54.4%). BM resection was performed in 33.0% of the cases and 73.2% of patients had brain radiotherapy alone or after surgery. Median OS was 5.1 ± 0.3 months. In multivariate analysis, age under 65 years, ECOG performance status 0–1, single BM and less than 3 chemotherapy lines before BM diagnosis were associated with better OS. Prognostic scores, i.e. recursive partitioning analysis (RPA), Graded Prognostic Assessment (GPA), Disease Specific-Graded Prognostic Assessment (DS-GPA), Gastro-Intestinal-Graded Prognostic Assessment (GI-GPA) and the nomogram were statistically significantly associated with OS but the most relevant prognosis criteria seemed the ECOG performance status 0–1. ECOG performance status, number of BM and number of chemotherapy lines are the most relevant factors in the management of patients with BM from CRC.