Intracerebral metastases overview

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Overview

Intracerebral metastasis accounts for approximately 25-50% of intracranial tumors in hospitalized patients. The true incidence of brain metastasis is unknown, but recent estimates are as high as 200,000 cases per year in the United States alone. 80% of brain metastases can be accounted for by five primary tumor sites: lung, breast, skin (melanoma), kidney and the gastrointestinal tract. A population-based study of 169,444 cancer patients from 1973 to 2001 in Detroit revealed that overall, 10% of patients diagnosed with one of these five primaries went on to develop brain metastases. Specifically, 19.9% of lung cancers, 6.9% of melanomas, 6.5% of renal cancers, 5.1% of breast cancers and 1.8% of colorectal cancers metastasized to the brain.

Parenchymal blood flow is an important determinant of the distribution of metastases. 80% of metastases localize to the cerebral hemispheres, 15% localize to the cerebellum and 3% localize to the basal ganglia. Often these tumors can be found at the gray/white matter junction.