Differential Impact of Whole-Brain Radiotherapy Added to Radiosurgery for Brain Metastases

Journal Article · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2009.08.027· OSTI ID:21436177

Kong, Doo-Sik ^[1]; Lee, Jung-Il ^[1]; Im, Yong-Seok; Nam, Do-Hyun; Park, Kwan; Kim, Jong-Hyun ^[1]

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1. Department of Neurosurgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

Purpose: The authors investigated whether the addition of whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) to stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) provided any therapeutic benefit according to recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class. Methods and Materials: Two hundred forty-five patients with 1 to 10 metastases who underwent SRS between January 2002 and December 2007 were included in the study. Of those, 168 patients were treated with SRS alone and 77 patients received SRS followed by WBRT. Actuarial curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method regarding overall survival (OS), distant brain control (DC), and local brain control (LC) stratified by RPA class. Analyses for known prognostic variables were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that control of the primary tumor, small number of brain metastases, Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) > 70, and initial treatment modalities were significant predictors for survival. For RPA class 1, SRS plus WBRT was associated with a longer survival time compared with SRS alone (854 days vs. 426 days, p = 0.042). The SRS plus WBRT group also showed better LC rate than did the SRS-alone group (p = 0.021), although they did not show a better DC rate (p = 0.079). By contrast, for RPA class 2 or 3, no significant difference in OS, LC, or DC was found between the two groups. Conclusions: These results suggest that RPA classification should determine whether or not WBRT is added to SRS. WBRT may be recommended to be added to SRS for patients in whom long-term survival is expected on the basis of RPA classification.

• OSTI ID: 21436177
• Journal Information: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, Journal Name: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 78; ISSN IOBPD3; ISSN 0360-3016
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
BODY
BRAIN
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
DISEASES
MEDICINE
METASTASES
NEOPLASMS
NERVOUS SYSTEM
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ORGANS
RADIOLOGY
RADIOTHERAPY
SURGERY
THERAPY