External validation of three prognostic scores for brain metastasis velocity in patients treated with intracranial stereotactic radiotherapy

•BMV is a novel prognostic score for OS in patients with BMs from solid cancers.•To date, three versions of the BMV have been proposed: Classic, initial and volume-based.•This is the first study to attempt to externally validate all three BMV scores in a large cohort.•cBMV and iBMV were successfully validated, while validation of vBMV was not achieved.•External validation and easy transferability suggest clinical potential for cBMV and iBMV. Brain metastasis velocity (BMV) has been proposed as a prognostic factor for overall survival (OS) in patients with brain metastases (BMs). In this study, we conducted an external validation and comparative assessment of the performance of all three BMV scores. Patients treated with intracranial stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for BM at a single center between 2014 and 2018 were identified. Where possible, all three BMV scores were calculated. Log-rank tests and linear, logistic and Cox regression analysis were used for validation and predictor identification of OS. For 333 of 384 brain metastasis patients, at least one BMV score could be calculated. In a sub-group of 187 patients, “classic” BMV was validated as categorical (p