1134 A Call to Revise the Thirty-year-old SRS Dose Guidelines for Brain Metastases

INTRODUCTION: Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) currently is the most widely used neurosurgical strategy for treatment of brain metastases. Many centers still rely on 30-year-old dose volume guidelines derived from RTOG 90-05. METHODS: Between 2014 and 2020 330 NSCLC patients (median age = 65 years) with 2910 brain metastases underwent Gamma knife SRS. The number of tumors treated per patient ranged from 1-56 and the total tumor cumulative volume ranged from .05 to 33.09 cc (median = 3.17). The median prescribed tumor margin dose was 18 Gy. RESULTS: Median overall survival after radiosurgery was 15.5 months. Radiological tumor progression was noted 66 out of 2910 tumors (2.27%) in 51 out of 330 patients (15.45%). Tumors were divided into 4 categories based on tumor volumes (<1.5 cc, 1.5-<5 cc, 5-<10 cc, and = 10cc). The effect of margin dose, and % tumor covered in 18 Gy, 20 Gy, and 24 Gy on local tumor control was analyzed for all 4 categories. In tumors with volumes >1.5 cc local tumor control was significantly better (P < 0.05) when =65% of the tumor volume received at least 24 Gy. No relationship was found between tumor control and 75, 90, and 100 % volumes receiving 18 or 20 Gy. CONCLUSIONS: In this study neither conformality of dose delivery nor tumor margin doses were the most important predictors of local tumor control as long as =65% of the tumor volume received at least 24 Gy. This finding can serve as a prescriptive guideline that allows margin doses below the RTOG guidelines, reduces reliance on strict conformality, and improves tumor control.