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Sterilization of cerebral metastases by radiation therapy

Departments of Neurology, Pathology, and Radiation Therapy, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and the Departments of Neurology and Pathology, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York.

It is generally acknowledged that radiation therapy (RT) provides effective palliative treatment for the majority of patients with brain metastases. It is less well known that RT can be "curative." In 10 years, we examined five patients with brain metastases treated with whole-brain radiotherapy and with no residual tumor in the brain at autopsy. These five patients represented about 3 percent (5 of 187) of patients treated for brain metastases and later examined at autopsy. Some metastatic brain tumors are eradicated by RT, and all nonterminal patients should be offered such treatment.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Posner, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021.

Presented at the thirty-first Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Chicago, Illinois, April, 1979.

Accepted for publication February 6, 1979.