Interdisciplinary management of central nervous system metastasis and neoplastic meningitis:recent developments and future perspectives

The incidence of metastatic disease in the central nervous system(CNS)is rising.According to current estimates,up to a third of adult cancer patients will suffer from CNS metastasis.Clinical evidence-based data from prospective randomized trials are rare,however,because CNS metastasis patients were often excluded from clinical trial participation.The management of CNS metastasis patients is therefore rather ill-defined and an interdisciplinary challenge.Recent basic and translational science data have begun contributing to a more profound understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to invasion of tumor cells into the CNS.This report reviews advances,challenges,and perspectives in this field.