Whole-Brain Radiotherapy and Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Brain Metastases: What Is the Evidence?

2015 ◽  
pp. e99-e104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minesh P. Mehta ◽  
Manmeet S. Ahluwalia
Keyword(s):  
Brain Metastases ◽  
Stereotactic Radiosurgery ◽  
Performance Status ◽  
Local Treatment ◽  
Local Therapy ◽  
Whole Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Disease Status ◽  
Tumor Type ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Brain Radiotherapy

The overall local treatment paradigm of brain metastases, which includes whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), continues to evolve. Local therapies play an important role in the management of brain metastases. The choice of local therapy depends on factors that involve the patient (performance status, expected survival, and age), the prior treatment history, and the tumor (type and subtype, number, size, location of metastases, and extracranial disease status). Multidisciplinary collaboration is required to facilitate an individualized plan to improve the outcome of disease in patients with this life-limiting complication. There has been concern about the neurocognitive effects of WBRT. A number of approaches that mitigate cognitive dysfunction, such as pharmacologic intervention (memantine) or a hippocampal-sparing strategy, have been studied in a prospective manner with WBRT. Although there has been an increase in the use of SRS in the management of brain metastases in recent years, WBRT retains an important therapeutic role.

Stereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases from pelvic gynecological malignancies: oncologic outcomes, validation of prognostic scores, and dosimetric evaluation

2021 ◽  
pp. ijgc-2021-002906
Author(s):  
Eva Meixner ◽  
Tanja Eichkorn ◽  
Sinem Erdem ◽  
Laila König ◽  
Kristin Lang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Overall Survival ◽  
Brain Metastases ◽  
Stereotactic Radiosurgery ◽  
Recursive Partitioning ◽  
Whole Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Prognostic Scores ◽  
Gynecologic Malignancies ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Cerebral Control

IntroductionStereotactic radiosurgery is a well-established treatment option in the management of brain metastases. Multiple prognostic scores for prediction of survival following radiotherapy exist, but are not disease-specific or validated for radiosurgery in women with primary pelvic gynecologic malignancies metastatic to the brain. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the feasibility, safety, outcomes, and impact of established prognostic scores.MethodsWe retrospectively identified 52 patients treated with radiotherapy for brain metastases between 2008 and 2021. Stereotactic radiosurgery was utilized in 31 patients for an overall number of 75 lesions; the remaining 21 patients received whole-brain radiotherapy. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the log-rank test were used to calculate and compare survival curves and univariate and multivariate Cox regression to assess the influence of cofactors on recurrence, local control, and prognosis.ResultsWith a median follow-up of 10.7 months, overall survival rates post radiosurgery were 65.3%, 51.3%, and 27.7% for 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively, which were significantly higher than post whole-brain radiotherapy (p=0.049). Five local failures (6.7%) were detected, resulting in 1 and 2 year local cerebral control rates of 97.4% and 94.0%, respectively. Univariate factors for prediction of superior overall survival were high performance status (p=0.030) and application of three prognostic scores, especially the Recursive Partitioning Analysis score (p=0.028). Uni- and multivariate analysis revealed that extracranial progression prior to radiosurgery was significant for inferior overall survival (p<0.0001). Radionecrosis was diagnosed in five women (16%); long-term neurotoxicity was significantly worse after whole-brain radiotherapy compared with radiosurgery (p=0.023).ConclusionStereotactic radiosurgery for brain metastases from pelvic gynecologic malignancies appears to be safe and well tolerated, achieving promising local cerebral control. Prognostic scores were shown to be transferable and radiosurgery should be recommended as primary intracranial treatment, especially in women with no prior extracranial progression and Recursive Partitioning Analysis class I.

Prospective evaluation of the palliative effect of whole-brain radiotherapy in patients with brain metastases and poor performance status

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Komosinska ◽  
Lucyna Kepka ◽  
Anna Niwinska ◽  
Lucyna Pietrzak ◽  
Marek Wierzchowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Metastases ◽  
Performance Status ◽  
Whole Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Poor Performance Status ◽  
Prospective Evaluation ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Brain Radiotherapy

Multidisciplinary Approach to Brain Metastasis from Melanoma: The Emerging Role of Systemic Therapies

2013 ◽  
pp. 393-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina V. Long ◽  
Kim A. Margolin
Keyword(s):  
Brain Metastasis ◽  
Brain Metastases ◽  
Phase Ii ◽  
Phase Ii Study ◽  
Performance Status ◽  
Local Therapy ◽  
Whole Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
First Line Therapy ◽  
Melanoma Brain Metastases

Melanoma brain metastases are common, difficult to treat, and carry a poor prognosis. Until recently, systemic therapy was ineffective. Local therapy (including surgery, stereotactic radiotherapy, and whole brain radiotherapy) was considered the only option for a chance of disease control in the brain, and was highly dependent on the patient's performance status and age, number and size of brain metastases, and the presence of extracranial metastases. Since 2010, three drugs have demonstrated activity in progressing or “active” brain metastases including the anti-CTLA4 antibody ipilimumab (phase II study of 72 patients), and the BRAF inhibitors dabrafenib (phase II study of 172 patients, both previously treated and untreated brain metastases) and vemurafenib (a pilot study of 24 patients with heavily pretreated brain metastases). The challenge and unanswered question for clinicians is how to sequence all the available therapies, both local and systemic, to optimize the patient's quality of life and survival. This is an area of intense clinical research. The treatment of patients with melanoma brain metastases should be discussed by a multidisciplinary team of melanoma experts including a neurosurgeon, medical oncologist, and radiation oncologist. Important clinical features that help determine appropriate first line therapy include single compared with solitary brain metastasis, resectablity, BRAF mutation status of melanoma, rate of progression/performance status, and the presence of extracranial disease.

Primary chemotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, or whole brain radiotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with asymptomatic brain metastases

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e19063-e19063
Author(s):  
K. Kim ◽  
J. Lee ◽  
M. Chang ◽  
J. Uhm ◽  
J. A. Yun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Brain Metastases ◽  
Stereotactic Radiosurgery ◽  
Whole Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Progression Free Survival ◽  
Primary Chemotherapy ◽  
Treatment Modalities ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Nsclc Patients

e19063 Background: Approximately 25 to 30% of patients with lung cancer develop brain metastases at some stage and 12∼18% at the time of initial presentation. Whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) has long been a mainstay of treatment of brain metastases. Another treatment approach, Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a method of delivering high doses of focal irradiation to a tumor while minimizing the irradiation to the adjacent normal tissue. However, the prognosis of NSCLC patients with asymptomatic brain metastases, who are not treated with SRS or WBRT, has not been fully investigated yet. This study aimed to analyze the outcome for various treatment modalities in NSCLC patients with asymptomatic brain metastases. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 129 patients with a histopathologically proven NSCLC and a synchronous brain metastases between January 2003 and December 2007. The patients were categorized as primary chemotherapy, primary SRS, and primary WBRT group: primary chemotherapy (78 patients), primary SRS (24 patients), and primary WBRT (27 patients). Results: With median follow-up of 30.0 months (7.2 -70.7), the median overall survival (OS) for the entire patients was 15.6 months (0.5–50.7) and the progression free survival (PFS) was 6.1 months (0.3- 53.0). The OS was 22.4m for primary SRS group, 13.9m for primary chemotherapy group, and 17.7m for primary WBRT group; p=0.86). However, patients treated with primary SRS showed trend toward prolonged survival compared to those of primary WBRT p=0.06). Subset analysis of 110 adenocarcinoma patients showed that the median OS for patients treated with primary SRS was longer than those of primary WRBT (29.3m vs 17.7m p=0.01) or primary chemotherapy (29.3m vs 14.6m p=0.04). Conclusions: These results suggest that for NSCLC patients with asymptomatic brain metastases at first diagnosis, SRS rather than primary chemotherapy or WBRT might be considered as initial treatment, especially for patients with adenocarcinoma. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

scholarly journals A Case of Brain Metastases from Breast Cancer Treated with Whole-Brain Radiotherapy and Eribulin Mesylate

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Nieder ◽  
Gro Aandahl ◽  
Astrid Dalhaug
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Brain Metastases ◽  
Metastatic Disease ◽  
Local Treatment ◽  
Whole Brain Radiotherapy ◽  
Maximum Size ◽  
Newly Diagnosed ◽  
Eribulin Mesylate ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Brain Radiotherapy

Patients with triple receptor-negative breast cancer often develop aggressive metastatic disease, which also might involve the brain. In many cases, systemic and local treatment is needed. It is important to consider the toxicity of chemo- and radiotherapy, especially when newly approved drugs become available. Randomised studies leading to drug approval often exclude patients with newly diagnosed brain metastases. Here we report our initial experience with eribulin mesylate and whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) in a heavily pretreated patient with multiple brain, lung, and bone metastases from triple receptor-negative breast cancer. Eribulin mesylate was given after 4 previous lines for metastatic disease. Two weeks after the initial dose, that is, during the first cycle, the patient was diagnosed with 5 brain metastases with a maximum size of approximately 4.5 cm. She continued chemotherapy and received concomitant WBRT with 10 fractions of 3 Gy. After 3 cycles of eribulin mesylate, treatment was discontinued because of newly diagnosed liver metastases and progression in the lungs. No unexpected acute toxicity was observed. The only relevant adverse reactions were haematological events after the third cycle (haemoglobin 9.5 g/dL, leukocytes3.1×109/L). The patient died from respiratory failure 18.5 months from diagnosis of metastatic disease, and 2.7 months from diagnosis of brain metastases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on combined WBRT and eribulin mesylate.

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