Focal radiation therapy of brain metastases after complete surgical resection

Brain metastases are a frequent occurrence in cancer patients and result in significant morbidity and mortality. The three main treatments for brain metastases include surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy, alone or in combination. After resection alone, local recurrence rates are high. Whole brain radiation therapy can decrease the probability of recurrence; however, this has some disadvantages. Focal radiation therapy (FRT) may provide many of the same benefits without some of these disadvantages. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed patients with single brain metastases treated with FRT after surgery. Doses ranged from 14 Gy as single dose stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) to 54 Gy in 272-Gy fractions as conformal fractionated radiotherapy. Four of the seven patients had a same-site recurrence, with an average time to recurrence of 115.5 d. Median dose in the patients that had same-site recurrence was 42 Gy. One of these patients is currently living. Two patients did not have recurrence, and one patient had a recurrence at a different site within the brain. The low rate of out-of-field recurrences during the patients life indicates focal radiation may be a reasonable therapeutic alternative. Given the number of patients with same-site recurrences, wide field margins around the tumor volume or higher radiation doses than those typically used in palliative regimens may be useful in post-excisional FRT. Additionally, we found that a longer delay in the initiation of FRT after initial diagnosis may result in a decreased time to same-site recurrence. However, further studies are warranted given the small number of patients in this study.