title: [Brain metastases: diagnostic and therapeutic strategy].
abstract: The occurrence of cerebral metastases is a frequent event in the natural history of many cancers, the main primary lesions being lung and breast cancer. Such metastases are of very poor prognosis, since the median survival time is less than one year. The therapeutic approach is determined after careful pretreatment evaluation including: measurement of the patient's performance, status feasibility of surgical resection based on computed tomographic findings, presence or absence of other metastatic sites, type of primary tumour (previously detected or not) and its local status. In patients in good general condition and with no metastases elsewhere, surgical resection is recommended, with or without adjuvant radiotherapy, for a single central nervous system metastasis from a well-controlled primary tumour, when no other specific treatment is suitable. Whole brain irradiation is the most common treatment of cerebral metastases, especially when there is evidence of multiple metastases. In case of extracerebral metastases, chemo- and/or hormonotherapy can be tried in association with radiotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Service de Pneumologie, Hôpital Louis Pradel, Lyon.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Trillet
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Biron
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
vernacular_title: Métastases cérébrales. Stratégie diagnostique et thérapeutique.