BACKGROUND Breast cancer is the second most common cause of brain metastases in the United States. Although breast cancer induced brain metastases represent an incurable condition, some patients experience prolonged survival. In this retrospective study, we examine a cohort of patients with brain metastases from breast cancer treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery to identify factor...

OBJECTIVE The immune modulatory drug chloroquine (CQ) has been demonstrated to enhance survival following radiotherapy in patients with high-grade glioma in a clinical trial, but the efficacy in patients with brain metastases is unknown. We hypothesized that short-course CQ during whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) would improve response to local therapy in patients with brain metastases. METHOD...

This study was conducted to compare the effects of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) and stereotactic radiotherapy (SRS) in treatment of brain metastasis.A systematical retrieval in PubMed and Embase databases was performed for relative literatures on the effects of WBRT and SRS in treatment of brain metastasis. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was performed by using the ADDIS software. The effec...

BACKGROUND The hippocampus is considered as the main radiosensitive brain structure responsible for postradiotherapy cognitive decline. We prospectively assessed correlation of memory change to hippocampal N-acetylaspartate (h-tNAA) concentration, a neuronal density and viability marker, by (1)H-MR spectroscopy focused on the hippocampus. METHODS Patients with brain metastases underwent whole...

Abstract PURPOSE To investigate the effect of radiotherapy and surgery in patients with lung cancer brain metastases (BMs) poor prognosis factors. METHODS We analyzed retrospectively 714 BMs. A 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to balance potential confounders. Analyses overall survival (OS) risk factors for OS were assessed by log-rank test Cox proportional hazard model. RESULT...

PURPOSE Parotid gland can be considered as a risk organ in whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the parotid gland sparing effect of computed tomography (CT)-based WBRT compared to 2-dimensional plan with conventional field margin. MATERIALS AND METHODS From January 2008 to April 2011, 53 patients underwent WBRT using CT-based simulation. Bilateral two-fiel...

OBJECTIVES Young age is an independent risk factor for local recurrence after breast conserving surgery (BCS) and whole breast radiotherapy (WBRT) for breast cancer. The aim of this study was to carry out a systematic meta-analysis to address the issue as to whether type of surgery might have an impact on overall survival (OS) of young patients with early breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS W...

BACKGROUND We review our single institution experience to determine predictive factors for early and delayed distant brain failure (DBF) after radiosurgery without whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) for brain metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between January 2000 and December 2010, a total of 464 patients were treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) without WBRT for primary mana...

Quantification of the setup errors is vital to define appropriate setup margins preventing geographical misses. The no-action-level (NAL) correction protocol reduces the systematic setup errors and, hence, the setup margins. The manual entry of the setup corrections in the record-and-verify software, however, increases the susceptibility of the NAL protocol to human errors. Moreover, the impact...

PURPOSE To determine differences in patient's reported quality of life and self-reported breast cosmesis between whole breast radiation therapy (WBRT) and accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) via single and multi-lumen high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy for women with early stage breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS Patient information was retrospectively reviewed and survey data were...