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Kirakli et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:10 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2018.73 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

Radiotherapy of brain metastases from non-small
cell lung cancer

Esra Korkmaz Kirakli , Ufuk Yilmaz 2
1
1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Disease and Surgery Training and Research Hospital, İzmir 35200,
Turkey.
2 Department of Pulmonology, University of Health Science, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Disease and Surgery Training and Research
Hospital, İzmir 35200, Turkey.

Correspondence to: Dr. Esra Korkmaz Kirakli, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Health Science, Dr. Suat Seren
Chest Disease and Surgery Training and Research Hospital, İzmir 35200, Turkey. E-mail: esrakirakli@gmail.com

How to cite this article: Kirakli EK, Yilmaz U. Radiotherapy of brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer. J Cancer
Metastasis Treat 2019;5:10. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2018.73

Received: 13 Nov 2018 First Decision: 17 Dec 2018 Revised: 19 Dec 2018 Accepted: 22 Dec 2018 Published: 19 Feb 2019

Science Editor: Lucyna Kepka Copy Editor: Cui Yu Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract
Brain metastases risk at the time of diagnosis or during the course of disease is high in non-small cell lung cancer
(NSCLC). Even the incidence of brain metastases has increased in recent years, due to detection of smaller
asymptomatic lesions with MRI screening as well as improved survival as a consequence of developments in
systemic therapies. In the last decade, there have been many trials in the management of NSCLC patients with
brain metastases, questioning the role of adjuvant whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) after surgery or stereotactic
radiosurgery (SRS), WBRT, compared to best supportive care in patients not amenable to surgery, aggressive
local therapies in solitary brain metastases, postsurgical cavity SRS, SRS in non-oligometastatic patients, cranial
radiotherapy in patients with driver mutations, thyrosine kinase inhibitors, immune check point inhibitors and the
impact of therapies on neurocognitive functions and quality of life. The main objective of this review is to provide an
update on current trends in radiotherapy in the management of newly diagnosed brain metastases from NSCLC.

Keywords: Radiotherapy, whole-brain radiotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, brain
metastases, lung cancer

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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