Survival status and prognostic factors of leptomeningeal metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma

Objective: To investigate the survival status and prognostic factors of patients with leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) from lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: The survival rate and prognostic factors of 65 patients with LM from lung adenocarcinoma, who had complete follow-up data, were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The median survival time of the 65 patients was 7.4 months，and the 1-year survival rate was 6.2% (4/65). Univariate analysis demonstrated that gender, age, smoking history, timing of LM and whether in combination with brain metastasis had no significant correlations with overall survival (all P > 0.05); while the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) score, ventriculo-peritoneal (V-P) shunt, epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) targeted therapy, systemic chemotherapy (SC), whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), clinical signs of LM and EGFR gene status were associated with the overall survival (all P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that EGFR gene status, ECOG PS score, SC and V-P shunt were independent prognostic factors of the prognosis of patients with LM from lung adenocarcinoma (all P < 0.05). Conclusion: The overall prognosis of patients with LM from lung adenocarcinoma is poor. The prognosis of patients with LM bearing EGFR mutation is relatively good. EGFR-TKI targeted therapy, SC and V-P shunt can prolong the survival time and improve the prognosis of patients with LM metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma. DOI:10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2017.33.061