Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
-
Hippocampal neural stem-cell injury during whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) may play a role in memory decline. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy can be used to avoid conformally the hippocampal neural stem-cell compartment during WBRT (HA-WBRT). RTOG 0933 was a single-arm phase II study of HA-WBRT for brain metastases with prespecified comparison with a historical control of patients treated with WBRT without hippocampal avoidance. ⋯ Conformal avoidance of the hippocampus during WBRT is associated with preservation of memory and QOL as compared with historical series.