Abstract
From November 1976 through September 1981, 28 patients with brain metastases received the conventional therapy and 9 patients received a high-dose, few fractions radiotherapy. There were two types of deaths—neurological and systemic death. In the conventional therapy group, neurological death occurred in 61% of all cases, but no neurological death was observed in the high dose radiotherapy group. Sequential computerized tomography (CT) scans were performed to estimate the therapeutic effect in 6 patients who received the conventional therapy and in 6 patients who received the high dose radiotherapy. Therapeutic effect was estimated by palliative indices which rated changes in the volume of the contrastenhanced area and of the perifocal low density area, and changes in the degree of contrast-enhancement of the tumor on CT scan. Many patients who received the high dose rediotherapy showed a reduction in tumor size and in the degree of contrast-enhancement, necrotic tumor tissue surrounded by lipid-laden macrophages on pathology, and a few months of neurological improvement.
Preliminary results of this study suggest that high-dose, few fractions radiotherapy is effective for brain metastasis treatment.
