This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Joaquin G. Mira, MD
The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio

JAMA. 1981;245(7):704.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Burgess et al (1979;242:2084) in their article state that "patients who develop brain metastases had a longer survival." Okin and Brandstetter (1980;243:2154), commenting on this article, state that "further evaluation of this apparently prolonged survival of patients with brain metastases is in order."

The statement of Burgess and his associates is puzzling. Are metastases in the brain (MB) a good prognostic sign? Also, along these lines, if these patients have a better prognosis, should any effort be made to prevent this complication? Is prophylactic brain irradiation in small cell bronchogenic carcinoma (SCBC) unnecessary? The main question to be answered is, why is the median survival prolonged in these patients? The answer lies in the studies of Hansen¹ (mentioned by Burgess et al) and that of Newman and Hansen.² Hansen proved that in patients with SCBC treated with chemotherapy but without brain irradiation "the chances of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?