Factors influencing survival after gamma knife radiosurgery for patients with single and multiple brain metastases.

Abstract

We conclude that radiosurgical treatment of brain metastases results in survival times that compare favorably with the historic experience in patients treated with whole brain radiotherapy alone or with surgical resection. In patients presenting initially with brain metastases, radiosurgery alone may yield survival results equivalent to radiosurgery with whole brain radiotherapy, but intracranial control and quality of life also need to be evaluated. Also, the presence of multiple brain metastases should not be a contraindication for the use of radiosurgery given the good survival achieved with such patients in this series. Each such case should therefore be evaluated based on other factors such as patient's age, Karnofsky score and systemic disease.