Serum CA125 level predicts prognosis in patients with multiple brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer before and after treatment of whole-brain radiotherapy

This study was to evaluate the effect of serum CA125 level on the prognosis of patients with multiple brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer before and after treatment of whole-brain radiotherapy. Sixty-six patients with multiple brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer before and after treatment of radiotherapy were reviewed retrospectively. Radiotherapy was given to the whole brain using opposed 6MV lateral beams with a dose of 30 Gy in 15 fractions in 3 weeks. Elevated CA125 was defined as >35 U/mL. The survival rate was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and the univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify significant factors associated with prognosis, using a Cox proportional hazards model. During the median (range) follow-up of 1.25 (0.25–2.50) years, 62 patients died from non-small cell lung cancer; the 1-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) rate was 43.08 %. Thirty patients had a high CA125 level before chemoradiotherapy (>35U/mL), and their CSS rate was significantly worse than that in the remaining patients ( P = 0.024). Multivariate analysis showed that CA125 level, number of metastases and total tumor volume were independent prognostic indicators for CSS, with a hazard ratio of 1.99, 1.67 and 2.02, respectively. The elevation of CA125 before treatment predicts a poor prognosis in patients with multiple brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer before and after treatment of whole-brain radiotherapy.