OS that presents with metastatic disease has a very poor prognosis with therapy, although therapy has achieved good results for patients without metastasis detected at diagnosis. Aggressive surgical resection of tumor is necessary for survival. The use of novel therapies at initial presentation is justified with this group of patients.

Object In the modern era, stereotactic radiosurgery is an important part of the multidisciplinary and multimodality approach used to treat dural carotid-cavernous fistulas (DCCFs). Based on the ease of performance of techniques to fuse cerebral angiography studies with MR images or CT scans during the radiosurgical procedure, the Gamma Knife and XKnife are 2 of the most popular radiosurgical instruments for patients with DCCF. In this study, the authors compared the efficacy, neurological results, and complications associated with these 2 radiosurgical devices when used for DCCF. Methods Records for 41 patients with DCCF (15 treated using the XKnife and 26 with Gamma Knife surgery [GKS]) were retrieved from a radiosurgical database encompassing the period of September 2000 to August 2008. Among these patients, at least 2 consecutive MR imaging or MR angiography studies obtained after radiosurgery were available for determining radiological outcome of the fistula. All patients received regular follow-up to evaluate the neurological and ophthalmological function at an interval of 1–3 months. The symptomatology, obliteration rate, radiation dose, instrument accuracy, and adverse effects were determined for each group and compared between 2 groups. The data were analyzed using the Student t-test. Results The mean age of the patients was 63 ± 2.6 years, and the mean follow-up period was 63.1 ± 4.4 months (mean ± SD). Thirty-seven patients (90%) achieved an obliteration of the DCCF (93% in the XKnife cohort and 88% for the GKS cohort). In 34 of 40 patients (85%) with chemosis and proptosis of the eyes, these symptoms were resolved after treatment (4 had residual fistula and 2 had arterializations of sclera). All 5 patients with high intraocular pressure demonstrated clinical improvement. Ten (71%) of 14 patients with cranial nerve palsy demonstrated improvement following radiosurgery. Significant discrepancies of treatment modalities existed between the XKnife and GKS groups, such as radiation volume, conformity index, number of isocenters, instrument accuracy, peripheral isodose line, and maximum dosage. The XKnife delivered significantly higher radiation dosage to the lens, optic nerve, optic chiasm, bilateral temporal lobe, and brainstem. Few adverse events occurred, but included 1 patient with optic neuritis (GKS group), 1 intracranial hemorrhage (XKnife group), 1 brainstem edema (XKnife), and 3 temporal lobe radiation edemas (XKnife). Conclusions Radiosurgery affords a substantial chance of radiological and clinical improvement in patients with DCCFs. The Gamma Knife and XKnife demonstrated similar efficacy in the obliteration of DCCFs. However, a slightly higher incidence of complications occurred in the XKnife group.

Background The benefit and the risk profile of Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS) for intracerebral cavernoma remains incompletely defined in part due to the natural history of low incidence of bleeding and spontaneous regression of this vascular malformation. In this study, we retrieved cases from a prospectively collected database to assess the outcome of intracerebral cavernoma treated with GKRS using a double blinded review process for treatment. Methods From 2003 to 2018, there were 94 cases of cavernoma treated by GKRS in the doubly blinded assessments by two experienced neurological and approved for GKRS treatment. All the patients received GKRS with margin dose of 11–12 (Gray) Gy and afterwards were assessed for neurological outcome, radiologic response, and quality of life. Results The median age of the patients was 48 (15–85) years with median follow up of 77 (26–180) months post SRS. The mean target volume was 1.93 ± 3.45 cc. In those who has pre-SRS epilepsy, 7 of 16 (43.7%) achieved seizure freedom (Engel I/II) and 9 of 16 (56.3%) achieved decreased seizures (Engel III) after SRS. Rebleeding occurred in 2 cases (2.1%) at 13 and 52 months post SRS. The radiologic assessment demonstrated 20 (21.3%) cases of decreased cavernoma volume, 69 (73.4%) were stable, and 5 (7.3%) increased size. Eighty-seven of 94 (92.5%) cases at the last follow up achieve improvement in their quality of life, but 7 cases (7.4%) showed a deterioration. In statistical analysis, the effective seizure control class (Engel I/II) was highly correlated with patient harboring a single lesion (p < 0.05) and deep seated location of the cavernoma (p < 0.01). New neurological deficits were highly correlated with decreased mental (p < 0.001) and physical (p < 0.05) components of quality of life testing, KPS (p < 0.001), deep seated location (p < 0.01), and increased nidus volume (p < 0.05). Quality of life deterioration either in physical component (p < 0.01), mental component (p < 0.01), and KPS (p < 0.05) was highly correlated with increased cavernoma volume. Conclusion Low margin dose GKRS for intracerebral cavernoma offers reasonable seizure control and improved quality of life while conferring a low risk of treatment complications including adverse radiation effect.

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