Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Modeling Brain Metastasis by Internal Carotid Artery Injection of Cancer Cells
Published on: August 2, 2022
[Surgery of brain metastases]
P Métellus1, N Reyns2, J Voirin3
1Département de neurochirurgie, CHU La Timone, AP-HM, 264, rue Saint-Pierre, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France; Groupe de réflexion sur la prise en charge des métastases cérébrales (GRPCMaC), 13273 Marseille cedex 09, France; Centre de recherche en oncologie et onco-pharmacologie (CRO2), faculté de médecine Timone, université Aix-Marseille, 27, boulevard Jean-Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France; Inserm U911, faculté de médecine Timone, 27, boulevard Jean-Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France.
Surgical resection of brain metastases, especially with adjuvant radiotherapy, improves survival. Surgery is also valuable for diagnosis and guiding targeted therapies in select patients.
Area of Science:
- Neurosurgery
- Oncology
- Radiotherapy
Context:
- Brain metastases significantly impact cancer patient survival and quality of life.
- Advances in systemic therapy have improved overall survival, increasing focus on local brain metastasis control.
- Surgical resection is a key modality for managing brain metastases.
Purpose:
- To evaluate the role and indications for surgical excision of brain metastases.
- To highlight surgery's utility beyond unique metastases, including multiple lesions and specific tumor characteristics.
- To emphasize surgery's diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making role.
Summary:
- Two randomized phase III trials confirm that surgical excision combined with whole-brain radiotherapy significantly improves overall survival for brain metastases.
- Surgery is preferred for lesions with cystic/necrotic aspects, significant edema, or eloquent/cortico-subcortical locations, even if radiosurgery is an option.
- Surgical resection aids in diagnosing primary disease absence, ruling out differential diagnoses, and obtaining biological data for targeted therapy selection.
- Patient selection for surgery hinges on clinical status, systemic disease, and intracranial metastasis characteristics.
Impact:
- Surgical resection is a valuable tool in managing brain metastases, offering survival benefits and diagnostic capabilities.
- It influences therapeutic strategies by providing crucial diagnostic and biological information.
- Improved patient selection can optimize outcomes for brain metastases treatment.
