Abstract
Purpose: A multi-institutional experience in radiosurgery for solitary brain metastases was combined to identify factors associated with safety, efficacy, tumor control, and survival. Materials and Methods: A review of 116 patients with solitary brain metastases who underwent gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery at five institutions was performed. The median follow-up was 7 months following radiosurgery and 12 months following diagnosis. Minimum tumor doses varied from 8-30 Gy (mean, 17.5 Gy). Forty-five patients failed prior radiotherapy and 71 had no prior brain irradiation. Fifty-one patients had radiosurgery alone and 65 underwent combined radiosurgery with fractionated large-field radiotherapy (mean dose, 33.8 Gy). Results: Median survival was 11 months after radiosurgery and 20 months after diagnosis. Follow-up documented local tumor control in 99 patients (85%), tumor recurrence in 17 (15%), and documented radiation necrosis in one (1%). The 2-year actuarial tumor control rate was 67 ± 8%. Tumor histology affected survival (better for breast cancer, p = .004) and local control (better for melanoma and renal cell, p = .0003) in multivariate analyses. Combined fractionated radiotherapy and radiosurgery improved local control (p = .0111), but not survival in multivariate testing. Conclusion: Radiosurgery is effective in controlling solitary brain metastases with low morbidity. Further study is needed to better define optimum treatment parameters for radiosurgery.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 797-802 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 1 1994 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Metastases
- Radiosurgery
- Stereotactic
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiation
- Oncology
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- Cancer Research