Practical radiation oncology
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Hippocampal-sparing and target volume coverage in treating 3 to 10 brain metastases: A comparison of Gamma Knife, single-isocenter VMAT, CyberKnife, and TomoTherapy stereotactic radiosurgery.
Our purpose was to evaluate hippocampal doses and target volume coverage with and without hippocampal sparing when treating multiple brain metastases using various stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) platforms. ⋯ Hippocampi play an important role in memory, and sparing of these structures in whole brain radiation can improve neurocognitive outcomes. The hippocampi are not routinely spared when using stereotactic radiosurgery. We evaluated the incidental dose to the hippocampi when treating multiple brain metastases and sought to examine if hippocampal sparing is feasible without detriment to target coverage. We found that hippocampal sparing is possible without affecting coverage or conformality in most cases across treatment platforms.