FRIDAY, June 5, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with newly diagnosed resectable brain metastases (BM), cesium-131 tile-based radiation therapy (TBRT), which delivers focal radiation immediately upon resection, yields significantly better outcomes than postoperative stereotactic radiation (SRT), according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held from May 29 to June 2 in Chicago.
Jeffrey Weinberg, M.D., from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues compared TBRT with SRT in patients with newly diagnosed resectable BM in an open-label phase 3 multicenter trial. Patients were randomly assigned to surgery + SRT or surgery + TBRT (115 per arm). The modified intent-to-treat population included 204 patients (101 SRT and 103 TBRT). Patients were followed for a median of 12.9 months.
The researchers found that surgical bed recurrence (SBR) occurred in 11.9 and 1.0 percent of patients in the SRT and TBRT groups, respectively. The median time to SBR was 17.4 months and not reached in the SRT and TBRT arms, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.06). SBR-free survival was significantly improved with TBRT, with median SBR-free survival of 10.9 months and not reached in the SRT and TBRT arms, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.48). TBRT was associated with significantly improved overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.59); estimated 24-month survival was 35.7 and 61.7 percent with SRT and TBRT, respectively.
"These results are dramatically better than the current alternatives and provide improved patient convenience by getting them over the roadblock of a brain metastasis diagnosis more quickly," co-lead author Thomas W. Beckham, M.D., Ph.D., also from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies, including GT Medical Technologies, which funded the study.
