ArticleJournal of neuro-oncology2025
Impact of brain metastasis size at the time of radiotherapy on local control and radiation necrosis.
Article in Journal of neuro-oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Clinical, radiographic, and neuropathologic characterization of peripherally hyperenhancing brain metastases: a novel radiographic entity.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2026Article
- Review
- Brain imaging screening in metastatic breast cancer: Is it time to rethink clinical guidelines and practice?Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2025Article
- Patterns and risk factors of intracranial recurrence after surgical resection of brain metastases from malignant tumors.American journal of cancer research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeNo consensus has been reached regarding whether upfront versus deferred radiation to small, asymptomatic brain metastases is most optimal. We sought to assess the relationship between tumor size at radiation and subsequent development of local recurrence and radiation necrosis to make data-driven recommendations regarding timing of radiation utilization.
methodsWe identified 2268 patients with 6308 newly diagnosed brain metastases between 2010 and 2022 managed with brain-directed radiotherapy at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA). Tumors were grouped by maximal unidimensional size: <0.5 cm, 0.5 to < 1 cm, 1 cm to < 2 cm, and ≥ 2 cm; local recurrence and radiation necrosis by tumor size were assessed using competing risks regression.
resultsAmong metastases initially treated with stereotactic radiation or whole brain radiotherapy, lesions 1 to < 2 cm (HR 2.30 [95% CI, 1.38-3.81], p = 0.001 and HR 2.61 [95% CI 1.76-3.89], p < 0.001, respectively) and ≥ 2 cm (HR 3.10 [95% CI, 1.62-5.94], p < 0.001 and HR 3.03 [95% CI 1.92-4.79], p < 0.001, respectively) displayed greater local recurrence compared to tumors < 0.5 cm. In addition, among patients treated with stereotactic radiation, significantly higher risk of radiographic and symptomatic necrosis was observed in tumors ≥ 0.5 cm versus < 0.5 cm at radiotherapy, with hazard ratios ranging from 3.27 to 18.90.
conclusionLarger metastasis size is associated with markedly poorer local control and increased necrosis following brain-directed radiation, suggesting a role for earlier utilization of radiation therapy in patients with small, asymptomatic metastases and a favorable prognosis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.