In a nutshell
This study wanted to analyze the outcomes of patients with breast cancer that has come back into the brain and who needed salvage radiotherapy to the brain. The study found that performing radiotherapy on the brain was effective in controlling the cancer in these patients.
Some background
Breast cancer can often spread throughout the body. A common place for it to spread to is the brain. When the cancer spreads to the brain, a number of treatment options are available. Stereotactic radiotherapy (SR) involves targeting radiation in the areas of the brain where tumors sit. This has been shown to be an effective way of controlling tumors in the brain. However it is not known how well this works in patients who have brain tumors that come back after having previously been treated.
Methods & findings
This study included 231 patients. All of these patients had been diagnosed with breast cancer. All of the patients had cancer spread to the brain. Patients underwent SR on the tumors in the brain. Some of the patients also underwent radiotherapy on the whole brain. The patients were followed for five years.
After 1 year, 53% of the patients were still alive. After 5 years, 26% of the patients were still alive. The average survival of patients who had radiotherapy on the whole brain was 11 months. The average survival of patients who did not have radiotherapy on the whole brain, and only had SR, was 23 months.
95% of the tumors were considered "under control" after the first SR treatment. 40% of patients underwent more than one round of SR. 8% of patients had neurologic side effects from the treatment.
The bottom line
The study concluded that stereotactic radiotherapy works to control tumors in the brain from breast cancer.
The fine print
This was a small study. It did not compare two groups. Everyone in the study had the same treatment.
Published By :
World neurosurgery
Date :
Jan 30, 2019
