Outcome of Cerebral Metastasectomy in Select Cases of Brain Metastases from Breast Cancer in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background Brain metastasis (BM) from breast cancer is increasingly encountered clinically because of the continuing success in the oncological control of the primary disease. Data-driven reports on the surgical treatment of BM from breast cancer are sparse in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods This is a prospective cohort study of the outcome of surgical excision of BM from breast cancer in an academic surgical practice in Ibadan, Nigeria. Results A total of 12 consecutive cerebral metastasectomies, all in females with primary breast cancer, were recorded over the study period. The median age (range) at breast cancer diagnosis was 41 (27–72) years, and the time interval from primary disease to BM was 19 (12–29) months. The BM was the first site of systemic disease progression in all, and was heralded by headache, seizures, and hemiparesis in more than two-thirds of the patients. The brain lesions were multiple in a quarter: >4 cm large in 42% and were located supratentorial in >80%. They all achieved good recovery and in-hospital outcome after surgical lesionectomy—infra- and supratentorial craniotomies—but only two-thirds could access postsurgical adjuvant whole brain radiation therapy. Median survival after cerebral metastasectomy was 18 (11–55) months, and more than a quarter were alive for ≥3years. These survival statistics were significantly better than those of a contemporary cohort of our patients with breast cancer who also had BMs that were not surgically treated for various clinical and logistic limitations. Conclusions Surgical resection is feasible for BM from breast cancer even in low-resource clinical practice. It has a salutary effect on the patients' quality of life.