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Brain metastases in breast cancer

journal contribution
posted on 2014-02-01, 00:00 authored by H W Sim, P Morris, S Patil, Mustafa Khasraw
Despite therapeutic advances, the development of breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) is still the harbinger of a dismal prognosis. Patient outcomes vary depending on factors, including tumor phenotype, extent of disease within and outside the brain, as well as patient performance status. Treatment includes surgery, radiation therapy and systemic therapy determined by patient and tumor characteristics. Despite these approaches, novel treatments are needed and there is growing interest in systemic therapies. However, the efficacy of pharmacologic agents is hampered by poor penetration of drugs across the blood–brain barrier. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a greater understanding of the natural history of BCBM to guide the development of further therapies. This review analyzes prognosis and treatment of BCBM by tumor phenotype and discusses ongoing research into new therapies.

History

Journal

Expert review of anticancer therapy

Volume

14

Issue

2

Pagination

173 - 183

Publisher

Informa Healthcare

Location

London, England

ISSN

1473-7140

eISSN

1744-8328

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2014, Informa