Immunotherapy tied to improved survival in patients with brain metastases

Reuters Health - 28/09/2020 - Immunotherapy is associated with improved overall survival in patients with brain metastases who have undergone definitive surgery of their primary tumor, according to a database study. Radiation therapy and other local therapies for brain metastases are associated with neurotoxic effects; cytotoxic chemotherapy, for its part, has shown limited effectiveness due to inability to cross the blood-brain barrier. Immunotherapy has been shown to control intracranial metastases in patients with melanoma, but whether immunotherapy is effective in other cancers remains uncertain, Dr. Chi Lin and colleagues from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha, note in in JAMA Network Open. The team used data from the National Cancer Database to evaluate whether the use of immunotherapy in patients with brain metastases who received surgery of the primary site is associated with improved overall survival. The study included more ...

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Posted on 28 September, 202021 October, 2020