Stereotactic radiosurgery plays a critical role in enhancing long-term survival in a patient with pancreatic cancer metastatic to the brain

Abstract

Background: Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease which metastasizes readily. The presence of brain metastases from pancreatic cancer is rare and it carries a poor prognosis. Our approach to treating these lesions stresses extensive use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), whereas other reports focus on surgical resection.

Case report: Information regarding the patient's clinical history was extracted from a retrospective review of the medical records and imaging studies. The patient survived seven years after his primary diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and 36 months after diagnosis of metastatic disease to the brain. In addition to surgical resection and the use of multiple chemotherapeutic agents, the patient received six separate radiosurgery treatments.

Conclusion: We present a case of brain metastasis from pancreatic cancer that is remarkable for an unusually long survivorship and discuss the utility of SRS along with a multimodality treatment approach for dealing with these cases.

Keywords: Brain metastases; multimodality treatment; pancreatic cancer; stereotactic radiosurgery.