Seute T et al. - The estimated prevalence of brain metastasis (BM) increases when MRI is used instead of CT. Patients with a detected single BM survive longer than patients with multiple BM. The use of MRI makes fewer patients eligible for prophylactic cranial irradiation. Methods
Aim was to show the effect of changing from CT to MRI on the prevalence of detected BM in pts with newly diagnosed small cell lung cancer (SCLC)
From 1980 to 2004, 481 consecutive pts with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were enrolled
Brain imaging was routinely performed after diagnosis of SCLC
At the start of 1991, MRI replaced CT in almost all pts
All pts were regularly examined by a neurologist
Results
The prevalence of detected BM was 10% in the CT era and 24% in the MRI era
In the CT era, all detected BM were symptomatic, whereas in the MRI era, 11% were asymptomatic
In both periods, pts labeled as single BM survived longer than those labeled as multiple BM
For pts labeled as single BM or multiple BM, survival was longer in the MRI era than in the CT era
The proportion of pts who were eligible for prophylactic cranial irradiation was lower in the MRI era
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