Brain metastasis radiosurgery using Leksell Gamma-Knife: experiences of 100 cases

We describe our experience with 100 patients harboring single and multiple brain metastasis, submitted to Lecksell-Gamma-Knife Radiosurgery. We retrospectively reviewed data of 100 patients with brain metastasis treated with radiosurgery. Clinical Evaluation, Karnofsky performance status and neuroimaging studies were obtained at four week intervals after procedure in order to assess treatment response. Tumor control was achieved in 98%. No side effects were observed, 76% of patients had no evidence of metastasis in MRI-image controls after treatment. Twenty-two patients had decreased tumor volume and two had no response. Peritumoral edema improved in all cases and no new neurological deficit were observed after procedure. No death in this series was due to progressive neurological impairment. Stereotactic radiosurgery using Leksell-Gamma-Knife is a rational treatment modality for single or multiple brain metastasis with high rate of tumor control (98 per cent in our series) and very low risk of undue effects. (author)