Brain metastases (BM) affect approximately 10–40% of patients with cancer.¹ Unlike other sites of secondary oncologic involvement, local therapy (ie, radiation and surgery) is commonly utilized for definitive management of BM.² While clinical trials have led to advances in BM management,^3,4 a paucity of population-based studies related to BM exist. Population-based studies are vital for outcomes difficult to assess with prospective or institutionally based retrospective studies, including generalizable assessments of prognosis, patterns of care, and health care disparities. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, one of the largest oncologic data sources in the United States, provides no information on BM after diagnosis of the primary malignancy, an important limitation given that many patients develop BM later in their clinical course.⁵ SEER-Medicare data, which link SEER data with Medicare claims and therefore provide clinical information after diagnosis of the primary cancer, have potential for BM investigations but require an accurate date of diagnosis of intracranial involvement. Here, we sought to determine whether claims data could accurately identify the date of intracranial involvement among patients with BM.

中文翻译：

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索赔数据可用于确定脑转移瘤的诊断日期。

脑转移（BM）影响约10-40％的癌症患者。¹与其他继发肿瘤的其他部位不同，局部治疗（即放射和手术）通常用于确定性治疗BM。²虽然临床试验已导致BM管理的进步，但^3,4很少有基于人群的与BM相关的研究。基于人群的研究对于难以通过前瞻性或基于机构的回顾性研究进行评估的结果至关重要，包括对预后，护理模式和医疗保健差异的普遍评估。监视，流行病学和最终结果（SEER）数据库是美国最大的肿瘤学数据来源之一，在诊断出原发性恶性肿瘤后，并未提供有关BM的信息，这是一个重要的局限性，因为许多患者在其临床后期都患有BM课程。⁵SEER-Medicare数据将SEER数据与Medicare索赔相关联，因此可以在诊断原发癌后提供临床信息，具有进行BM检查的潜力，但需要准确的颅内受累诊断日期。在这里，我们试图确定索赔数据是否可以准确确定BM患者的颅内受累日期。