The palliation of brain metastases in a favorable patient population: A randomized clinical trial by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group

Although long-course brain irradiation has no apparent superiority in the overall group of patients with intra-cranial metastases, it is quite possible that sub-populations can be identified which might benefit from more aggressive treatment. A recent retrospective analysis of the data from the previous RTOG trails has failed to demonstrate any advantage for any five treatment schedules even among selected subgroups with favorable survival characteristics. This report presents the results of a third RTOG clinical trial which investigates prospectively the use of a higher dose schedule compared with the ''best standard treatment'' in a highly selected, favorable group of patients with brain metastases