Comparison of Diagnosis-specific Survival Scores for Patients With Cerebral Metastases from Malignant Melanoma Including the New WBRT-30-MM.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Diagnosis-specific scoring systems developed for predicting survival of patients with cerebral metastases from malignant melanoma (MM) were evaluated.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

The new whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT)-30-MM was created in homogeneously treated patients receiving 10×3 Gy of WBRT for cerebral metastases from MM. It consisted of three groups with significantly different 6-month survival rates of 0% (3-5 points), 30% (7 points) and 52% (9 points) (p=0.001). The WBRT-30-MM was compared to three other scores created for cerebral metastases from MM, including first updated DS-GPA classification, Dziggel-Score and Sehmisch-Score.

RESULTS

Positive predictive values (PPVs) for predicting death ≤6 months after WBRT were 100% (WBRT-30-MM), 77% (DS-GPA), 69% (Dziggel-Score) and 73% (Sehmisch-Score). PPVs for predicting survival ≥6 months were 52%, 38%, 63% and 75%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

WBRT-30-MM was the most accurate instrument for predicting death ≤6 months. For predicting survival ≥6 months, Sehmisch-Score was most accurate, although all existing scorring systems appeared suboptimal for this purpose.