title: Treatment of brain metastases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Brain metastases are a very common neurological sequela in cancer patients. The ability of current anti-cancer therapies to prolong overall survival is beleaguered by this development in the case of a number of different cancers. This review provides a general overview of relevant treatment modalities, highlights major decision strategies used in selecting the optimal treatment algorithm and summarizes important steps necessary before initiating therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A PubMed database search was done to identify publications describing the treatment of brain metastases including surgery, radiotherapy and symptomatic care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patient performance status and extent of disease play the most important roles in selecting between an aggressive or more conservative approach. As several other options are available, treatment decisions should be made in cooperation with multiple medical specialties and the involvement of multidisciplinary teams. In the future, brain metastases could become less of a treatment obstacle than they are today.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matzenauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic.|Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc and University Hospital Olomouc, Czech Republic.|Toxicogenomics Unit, National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vrana
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic.|Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc and University Hospital Olomouc, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Bohuslav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Melichar
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000628:therapy; D059351:Organ Sparing Treatments; D011379:Prognosis; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: Key words: brain; chemotherapy; metastases; neurosurgery; radiosurgery; radiotherapy; stereotactic; whole-brain