title: Outcomes After Whole-brain Radiotherapy for Brain Metastases with 5×4 Gy: Importance of Overall Treatment Time.
abstract: To investigate the impact of overall treatment time (OTT) of whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) with 5×4 Gy on outcomes.
  
  
  
  Forty-four patients for whom WBRT was started on a Monday (OTT=5 days) were compared to 136 patients, for whom WBRT was started on another weekday (OTT=7 days; weekend break) regarding intracerebral control and survival. Seven other factors were also analyzed.
  
  
  
  Intracerebral control at 6 and 12 months was 64% and 36% after OTT of 5 days vs. 57% and 38% after OTT of 7 days (p=0.68). On multivariate analysis, intracerebral control was positively associated with a better Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance score (ECOG-PS) (p<0.001). Survival at 6 and 12 months was 36% and 16% after OTT of 5 days vs. 35% and 19% after OTT of 7 days (p=0.81). On multivariate analysis, survival was positively associated with better ECOG-PS (p<0.001) and absence of extracerebral lesions (p=0.004).
  
  
  
  Prolongation of OTT to 7 days had no impact on outcomes after WBRT with 5×4 Gy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Lubeck, Lubeck, Germany rades.dirk@gmx.net.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rades
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr. Bernard Verbeeten Institute, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Veninga
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Lubeck, Lubeck, Germany Medical Practice for Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, AZ, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Schild
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary; D016371:Cranial Irradiation; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017567:Karnofsky Performance Status; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Brain metastases; intracerebral control; overall treatment time; survival; whole-brain radiotherapy