Management strategies for patients with brain metastases: has radiosurgery made a difference?
BACKGROUND
Brain metastases develop in up to 50% of all patients with cancer. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the outcomes for brain metastases patients treated with adjuvant whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).


METHODS
Between 1990 and 1995, 86 patients with brain metastases received external beam WBRT with a megavoltage beam at our center. Between January 2000 and July 2001, 48 patients with 84 tumors diagnosed as cerebral metastases were treated with SRS using the Leksell Gamma Knife. A comparative analysis of the outcomes in the two different groups was made to determine a possible statistically significant difference in survival.


RESULTS
In the WBRT group, the median follow-up was 11 months. Thirty-nine patients (45.3%) experienced an improvement in neurologic status. The median overall survival was 5 months (range, 1-40 months). In the SRS group, the median follow-up for this group was 9 months. Thirty-four patients experienced an improvement in their neurologic signs and symptoms. The median survival was 12 months (range, 1-16 months).


CONCLUSIONS
SRS appears to be a safe and effective treatment option for those patients with a limited number of brain metastases and in patients with controlled or limited systemic disease.
Jawahar
Ajay
A
Department of Neurosurgery, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Shreveport, LA 71130-3932, USA.
Ampil
Federico
F
Wielbaecher
Christina
C
Hartman
Golda H
GH
Zhang
John H
JH
Nanda
Anil
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D016634:Radiosurgery; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome