Ewha Med J.  2021 Oct;44(4):103-110. 10.12771/emj.2021.44.4.103.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Metastatic Brain Tumor

• Kim YG

• KMID: 2521817
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12771/emj.2021.44.4.103

Abstract

Brain metastases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for patients with systemic cancer and are among the most common intracranial tumors in adults. Its incidence increases as cancer therapies improve, and patients live longer, providing new challenges to the multidisciplinary teams that manage these patients. The contemporary neurosurgical treatment of intracranial metastases has become gradually more complex as the available therapeutic options increase. For the past 50 years, wholebrain radiotherapy and systemic corticosteroids have been considered as the standard of care for patients with brain metastases. However, in recent years, stereotactic radiosurgery is spotlighted as an alternative therapeutic modality for these patients because of its relatively short, convenient, and non-invasive treatment course. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a radiation therapy technique in which multiple focused radiation beams intersect over a target, which results in the delivery of highly conformal, high-dose of radiation to the target and minimal radiation to surrounding normal parenchyma. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of stereotactic radiosurgery as a treatment modality for patients with brain metastases.

Keyword

Metastatic brain neoplasms; Radiosurgery; Radiotherapy; Neoplasm metastasis

Figure

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  Fig. 1 A Gamma Knife isodose plot with tumor outlined in red, the 50% isodose line in yellow, and the 30% isodose line in green.

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  Fig. 2 Figure illustrating the definitions used in the calculation of the gradient and conformity indices (CIs). PIV, prescribed isodose volume; GTV, gross tumor volume.

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