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There is a big difference between brain mets that caused no symptoms and brain mets that were not diagnosed at the time that a patient died of breast cancer. Let me give you an example:
Let's say that patient A has breast cancer that has spread only to her brain, causing her X amount of pain and other symptoms. Now let's say patient B has breast cancer that has spread to her liver, spine and lungs, causing her a great amount of pain and other symptoms PLUS brain mets that also cause her X amount of pain and symptoms. Patient B's other symptoms may (a) mask the symptoms from the brain mets and (B) be prioritized over diagnosing other mets, such as brain, which would require a stoppage of chemo in order to do radiation, while Patient A's brain mets symptoms JUMP to the forefront and lead to a diagnosis. Patient B could potentially die before having her brain mets discovered, while Patient A is in good enough health so that her brain mets can be discovered during her life.
Thus, just because some brain mets go undiagnosed during a patient's life does NOT mean that they caused no symptoms.
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