Symptomatic radiation necrosis following intracranial brachytherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #radiation necrosis
- #brachytherapy
- #systematic review
- The study estimates a pooled incidence of symptomatic radiation necrosis (RN) following intracranial brachytherapy at 5.67% (95% CI: 3.84%-8.29%).
- Subgroup analyses reveal varying RN rates by tumor type: 3.72% for low-grade gliomas, 8.44% for high-grade gliomas, 2.07% for brain metastases, and 8.98% for meningiomas.
- Isotope-specific RN rates are 5.83% for Iodine-125, 7.61% for Iridium-192, and 2.07% for Cesium-131, though subgroup differences are not statistically significant.
- Sensitivity analyses show higher RN incidence rates when using clear definitions (8.71%) or combined clear/partial definitions (7.48%).
- The study concludes that symptomatic RN occurs in approximately 5.7% of patients, consistent with other focal radiation therapies.