title: A concise review of the efficacy of stereotactic radiosurgery in the management of melanoma and renal cell carcinoma brain metastases.
abstract: Melanoma and renal cell carcinoma have a well-documented tendency to develop metastases to the brain. Treating these lesions has traditionally been problematic, because chemotherapy has difficulty crossing the blood brain barrier and whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) is a relatively ineffective treatment against these radioresistant tumor histologies. In recent years, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has emerged as an effective and minimally-invasive treatment modality for irradiating either single or multiple intracranial structures in one clinical treatment setting. For this reason, we conducted a review of modern literature analyzing the efficacy of SRS in the management of patients with melanoma and renal cell carcinoma brain metastases. In our analysis we found SRS to be a safe, effective and attractive treatment modality for managing radioresistant brain metastases and highlighted the need for randomized trials comparing WBRT alone vs. SRS alone vs. WBRT plus SRS in treating patients with radioresistant brain metastases.
authors.affiliation: Gamma Knife of Spokane, 910 W 5th Ave, Suite 102, Spokane, WA, 99204, USA.
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: Ameer L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Elaimy
authors.forename: Wayne T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Lamoreaux
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Demakas
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Fairbanks
authors.forename: Alexander R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Mackay
authors.forename: Blake
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Barton S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: Sudheer R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Thumma
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000556:secondary*; D016371:Cranial Irradiation; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000556:secondary*; D016634:Radiosurgery