Brain Metastases from Ovarian Carcinoma: An Evaluation of Prognostic Factors and Treatment.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To review a series of patients with brain metastases from ovarian cancer at a single institution. To describe treatment modalities, their outcomes and to determine prognostic factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between January 1995 and December 2014, 25 patients with ovarian cancer brain metastases were treated at The Sheba Medical Center. The medical records were retrospectively reviewed to collect demographic, clinical, and imaging data as well as the information on the treatment modalities used and their outcomes. RESULTS: Mean patient age at the time of brain metastasis diagnosis was 62.7 years. The median interval between the diagnosis of primary cancer and brain metastasis was 42.3 months. Neurologic deficits, headache, and seizure were the most common symptoms. The brain was the only site of metastasis in 20% of the patients. Active ovarian cancer at the time of diagnosis of brain metastasis was observed in half of the patients with systemic disease. Multiple brain metastases were observed in 25% of the patients. We treated 11 patients with surgery plus radiation therapy protocols in various orders: surgery followed by complementary whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT), surgery followed by stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and surgery followed by WBRT and then by adjuvant SRS. Five patients underwent surgery alone and nine patients were treated with radiation alone (WBRT, SRS, or both). Univariate analysis for predictors of survival demonstrated that age above 62.7 years at the time of central nervous system involvement was a significant risk factor and leptomeningeal disease was a poor prognostic factor in reference to supra-tentorial lesions. Multivariate analysis for predictors of survival, however, showed that multiple brain lesions (>4) were a poor prognostic factor, and multivariate analysis of the time to progression revealed that combined treatments of surgery and radiation resulted in longer median periods of progression-free survival than each modality alone. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the only significant predictors of survival or progression-free survival in our cohort were the number of brain metastases and the treatment modality.

LINAC radiosurgery in the management of parasagittal meningiomas.

BACKGROUND: At present, there is no general agreement for the best approach to parasagittal meningiomas. Invasion of the superior sagittal sinus is frequent and responsible for relatively high recurrence rates following conventional microsurgery. Radiosurgery has the potential to treat less accessible portions of these tumors, and its application in this pathology is increasing either as a primary or a complementary therapeutic tool. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate our results with LINAC radiosurgery for the treatment of parasagittal meningiomas. METHODS: The patient cohort consisted of 74 patients treated for parasagittal meningioma by LINAC radiosurgery at our institution's Radiosurgery Unit during a 15-year period. Women accounted for 61% of patients. Thirteen patients (18%) underwent radiosurgery as the primary treatment for their meningioma. RESULTS: The overall actuarial control rate was 90.6% at a mean follow-up of 49 months. In 17 patients (22.9%), there was no volumetric change. Fifty patients (67.5%) showed tumor shrinkage ranging from 15 to 80% of the original mass. In 7 patients, tumor recurrence was observed at an average time of 42.2 months after radiosurgery. All the patients with previously untreated tumors were controlled. Symptomatic transient peritumoral edema developed in 5 patients (6.7%) at a mean of 6.4 months after radiosurgery. Three patients complained of protracted headaches after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: LINAC radiosurgery was highly effective for the treatment of parasagittal meningiomas in this series. For small to medium-sized meningiomas with clear invasion of the sinusal lumen, radiosurgery is a reasonable option as a first-line treatment. Either alone or combined with conventional surgery, radiosurgery may improve the control rate for parasagittal meningiomas.

Radiosurgery for brain metastases and cerebral edema.

The objective of this study was to assess reduction in cerebral edema following linear accelerator radiosurgery (LINAC) as first line therapy for brain metastasis. We reviewed the medical records of all patients who underwent LINAC radiosurgery for brain metastasis at our institution during 2010-2012, and who had not previously undergone either surgery or whole brain radiotherapy. Data were analyzed for 55 brain metastases from 46 patients (24 males), mean age 59.9 years. During the 2 months following LINAC radiosurgery, the mean steroid dose decreased from 4.8 to 2.6 mg/day, the mean metastasis volume decreased from 3.79±4.12 cc to 2.8±4.48 cc (p=0.001), and the mean edema volume decreased from 16.91±30.15 cc to 12.85±24.47 cc (p=0.23). The 17 patients with reductions of more than 50% in brain edema volume had single metastases. Edema volume in the nine patients with two brain metastases remained stable in five patients (volume change <10%, 0-2 cc) and increased in four patients (by >10%, 2-14 cc). In a subanalysis of eight metastases with baseline edema volume greater than 40 cc, edema volume decreased from 77.27±37.21 cc to 24.84±35.6 cc (p=0.034). Reductions in brain edema were greater in metastases for which non-small-cell lung carcinoma and breast cancers were the primary diseases. Overall, symptoms improved in most patients. No patients who were without symptoms or who had no signs of increased intracranial pressure at baseline developed signs of intracranial pressure following LINAC radiosurgery. In this series, LINAC stereotactic radiosurgery for metastatic brain lesions resulted in early reduction in brain edema volume in single metastasis patients and those with large edema volumes, and reduced the need for steroids.