Central nervous system metastases from epithelial ovarian cancer

The aim of the study was to assess the clinical features and prognosis in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) metastasised to the central nervous system (CNS). A total of 15 patients were studied retrospectively. Clinical and pathological data and follow-up were analysed. It was found that at the diagnosis of primary EOC, the patients were 41-69 years old (56.6 +/- 8.3). The interval from diagnosis of primary EOC until the relapse was 2-39 months (19.1 +/- 10.5). Palliative radiotherapy was the treatment of the CNS relapse in 13 patients (86.7%). The follow-up after CNS relapse varied 0.5-15 months (4.7 +/- 4.2). At the time of retrospective analysis, none of the patients were still alive. Multifocality of the CNS metastases, the presence of synchronous extracranial metastases and locations in the brain were not associated with survival. It was concluded that the development of the CNS metastases seems to be not uncommon in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. Despite oncological treatment, they are indicators of poor prognosis, and most of the patients do not survive beyond the first year of follow-up.