Brain Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Brain Cancer, including details on symptoms, benign and malignant tumors, gliomas, treatment. | ||||||||
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Perineural spread of cutaneous malignancy to the brain: a review of the literature and five patients treated with stereotactic radiotherapy.Fowler BZ, Crocker IR, Johnstone PA Department of Radiation Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. BACKGROUND: The retrospective analysis was performed to investigate the role of stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) techniques for patients with intracranial perineural spread (PNS) of a primary cutaneous malignancy. METHODS: Five patients were identified who received SRT from 1993 to 2003 for cutaneous malignancies with intracranial PNS to the cavernous sinus (n = 3) or Meckel's cave (n = 2). Patients were treated with GammaKnife stereotactic radiosurgery (n = 2), linear accelerator (linac)-based fractionated SRT (n = 2), or linac-based stereotactic radiosurgery (n = 1). RESULTS: The median overall survival (OS) periods from diagnoses of cutaneous malignancy and intracranial PNS were 63.0 months (range, 22.0-102.2 months) and 25.5 months (range, 22.0-55.2 months), respectively. The median OS from SRT was 24.2 months (range, 19.5-53.2 months). One patient was alive and without evidence of disease at 53 months of follow-up. The median durations of local and regional control from SRT were 19.5 months (range, 1.5-53.2 months) and 7.0 months (range, 1.5-53.2 months), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Previous reports generally have recommended that patients with intracranial PNS receive palliative external-beam radiotherapy. Results from the current study suggest that some of these patients may have prolonged survival, or even may be cured. Judicious use of SRT should be considered in their management. Published 5 May 2005 in Cancer, 103(10): 2143-53.
© 2004-2008 Brain Cancer Research Today. All Rights Reserved. |
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