Addition of upfront whole-brain radiotherapy to surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery versus surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery alone for treatment of brain metastases: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

2016 Background: The benefits of adding upfront whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) to surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) when compared to surgery or SRS alone for treatment of brain metastases are unclear. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials (RCT) to determine the efficacy and safety of additional upfront WBRT. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL from date of inception and annual meeting proceedings of ASCO and ASTRO from 1999 to September 2011 for RCTs comparing surgery or SRS plus WBRT with surgery or SRS alone for treatment of brain metastases. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS). Secondary outcomes include progression free survival (PFS), local and distant intracranial disease progression, neurocognitive function (NF), quality of life (Qol) and neurological toxicity. Hazard ratios (HR), confidence intervals (CI), p values (p) were estimated with random effects models using Revman 5.1. Results: We found five RCTs including 663 patients with one to four brain metastases. Adding upfront WBRT decreased the one-year incidence of any intracranial disease progression from 73-76% to 22 - 47% but did not improve OS (HR 1.11, 95%CI 0.83 - 1.48, p = 0.47) and PFS (HR 0.76, 95%CI 0.53 - 1.10, p = 0.14). Subgroup analyses showed that the effects on overall survival are similar regardless of types of focal therapy used, number of brain metastases, dose and sequence of WBRT. The effects of upfront WBRT on NF, Qol and neurological toxicity were variable. Conclusions: Adding upfront WBRT to surgery or SRS significantly decreased any intracranial disease progression at one year but did not improve overall and progression free survival and produced variable effects on neurocognitive function, quality of life and neurological toxicity when compared with surgery or SRS alone. Future research should focus on developing more effective approaches to characterize and ameliorate the potential neurological toxicity of WBRT.