402. BRAIN METASTASES FROM ESOPHAGEAL CANCER AFTER MULTIMODAL TREATMENT: EARLY DETECTION AND AGGRESSIVE LOCAL TREATMENT CAN LEAD TO BETTER OUTCOMES

Abstract Background International guidelines do not recommend imaging investigations to rule out the presence of BM (brain metastases) during clinical staging or follow-up in patients with oesophageal cancer. Patients with single or up to three BM can be considered oligometastatic: in our study we analysed patients with BM focusing on the management and outcomes of BM. Methods We retrospectively identified patients who underwent surgical resection for oesophageal adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma from 2006 to 2022 in our Upper GI division and subsequently developed brain metastasis (BM). Starting from January 2018, a brain CT scan was added to the routine follow-up procedures in our centre. We divided patients in two groups based on the treatment received for BM: local therapy group treated with surgery and/or stereotactic body radiation therapy/stereotactic radiosurgery (SBRT/SRS) versus no local therapy group treated with chemotherapy or whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). Results 34 patients developed BM (three didn’t receive treatment); 23 patients in local therapy versus 8 in no local therapy group. Median overall survival (OS, from BM diagnosis to patient’s death or last follow-up) in local therapy group was 14.52 months whereas in no-local therapy 3.41 months, p<0.001. At univariable analysis predictors of OS were pathological stage, pathological response, GI-GPA score, number of metastases, treatment. In multivariable analysis, only pathological stage was statistically significative. We diagnosed 17 BM recurrence before 2018 (17 patients of 355, 4,7%) and 17 after 2018 with introduction of routine brain CT (17 of 217, 7.8%). Conclusion BM from oesophageal cancer benefit from local aggressive treatment in terms of overall survival and to apply a local treatment is necessary that BM are diagnosed early. The introduction of brain CT scan during follow up may have improved the detection rate of BM and therefore in our opinion routine brain CT scan could be necessary.