Your Location
Go ahead…enjoy life, even when you’re fighting cancer.
As one of the most advanced cancer treatment options available, Novalis Radiosurgery Program is changing the face of cancer treatment, and has already helped thousands of people continue to go to work, spend time with family and friends, and take part in their favorite activities, all while fighting cancer. It has been specifically designed to offer a precise, fast, personalized and non-invasive treatment* so that patients can benefit from a more comfortable treatment experience.
Learn from leading radio-oncologists, neurosurgeons and physicists explaining how brain metastases develop and get insights about the latest technologies to treat them.
We are living in one of the most dynamic and exciting periods of medicine for cancer treatment. We are treating primary cancers with new and better options, enabling patients to live longer. The most common primary sites for brain metastases are lung, breast, skin, kidney, and gastrointestinal tract.
Advanced technologies and treatment options for secondary cancers to the brain – brain metastases – are helping improve survival rates and quality of life for patients, helping them live longer, fuller lives with better control of their cancer.
Patients should discuss quality of life and ‘preservation of cognitive function’ when analyzing brain metastasis treatment options such as surgery, whole brain radiation and stereotactic radiosurgery. Over the last decade, studies have been conducted that suggest that some patients can be treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) alone without whole brain radiation therapy. Memory and learning are important components of any patient’s quality of life, and we now know that SRS alone is a viable and effective treatment consideration. [10, 11]
Click here for an overview of treatment options for brain metastasis.
The Brainlab Way
The Brainlab Way
“Twenty seven years ago I invented a software that helped neurosurgeons navigate the brain. Ever since, I have devoted my time, passion and expertise to develop advanced, software guided treatment options in radiosurgery and neurosurgery. Brainlab technology strives to give patients the highest degree of flexibility while at the same time securing the most precise, automated and clinically effective treatment. I am extremely proud and privileged to have supported hundreds of thousands of patients globally with our technology. In line with our vision to increase access to and knowledge of medical technology to physicians and patients alike, we have gathered 20 hours of expert interviews with leading physicians in the field of radiosurgery, to give you the best possible overview of current treatment options, so that you can make better educated decisions about your cancer treatment.”
Stefan Vilsmeier, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Despite feeling strong and hopeful during the filming of the documentary, sadly Brenda recently passed away. Her passing reminds us that metastatic brain cancer is unfortunately still a deadly disease. We hope that stories like Brenda’s will push researchers to discover new, even more effective ways to combat brain metastases. We give our deepest condolences to her family and friends. We are very honored to have had the chance to work with such an inspiring woman.
Watch the video
Metastatic Breast Cancer to the Brain
Watch the Video
American Brain Tumor Association Mission
American Brain Tumor Association Mission
Learn about the ABTA
“It’s very early on in a movement to really address the treatment of metastatic cancer, and metastatic brain in particular. The importance of a film like this and the American Brain Tumor Association being a part of it, is it really gets back to our mission. If people understand that there is time for them to understand their tumor, that there is time for them to understand that diagnosis, and there is time for them to better understand their treatment options, it’s a better trajectory, it’s a better outcome, and I think that that is a mission fulfillment for our organization.”
Ralph DeVitto, President & Chief Executive Officer
Brainlab has been innovating precision radiotherapy for nearly 30 years so that we can help patients fight cancer and other conditions of the brain and body. We’re dedicated to improving patient access to treatments and the consistency of those treatments. We work on a global level to help improve patient outcomes.
David Andrews, MD
Neurosurgeon
Jefferson University Hospitals
“If we can give you a plateau for survival, imagine what new protocols might be available to you that weren’t available even three years ago.”
Douglas Kondziolka, MD
Radiation Oncologist
NYU Langone Medical Center
“Patients are surprising us. They are living longer. They’re beating the odds. We’re seeing things we never saw before.”
Veronica Chiang, MD
Neurosurgeon
Yale University School of Medicine
“We’ll find the cure for cancer eventually but in the meantime, we want people to be able to live with their cancer as opposed to for their cancer.”
Howard Chandler, MD
Neurosurgeon
Piedmont Atlanta Hospital
“In my opinion, the development of the micro-multileaf collimator has been the biggest advance in radiosurgery during my professional career … it allows more precise and homogenous deliver of the radiation to the target only, so you’re delivering a minimum of radiation to the healthy brain tissue around it.”
Dwight Heron, MD
Radiation Oncologist
UPMC Shadyside Hospital
“We now have capabilities, in radiosurgery, to treat tumors that are in deep and inaccessible areas with almost relative impunity. We can do with such targeted approaches that the side effects are no longer significant.”
Orin Bloch, MD
Neurosurgeon
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
“The blood-brain barrier works very well at keeping toxins and infections that in our blood from getting into our brains. Cancer has developed a mechanism to penetrate this barrier, and some types are better at it than others, which is why we tend to see most metastatic cancers from lung, breast, melanoma and testicular cancers.”
Eric Chang, MD
Radiation Oncologist
Keck School of Medicine of USC
“The future of brain metastasis treatments? Better neuroimaging, better technologies to deliver radiation—specifically radiosurgery—and better systemic agents that will cross the blood-brain barrier, hone in and target tumors. There’ll be exciting new therapies coming down the road that are going to improve on how we currently treat metastatic brain disease.”
David Roberge, MD
Radiation Oncologist
Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal
“Radiosurgery has evolved quite a bit; it’s a double-edged sword that it can be performed, even for brain metastases, in smaller clinics with general radiotherapy equipment. The quality might not be exactly the same in a smaller clinic as it is in a large institution where they have a device dedicated to radiosurgery. Patients can and should look for some accreditation in which they trust/have confidence.”
Timothy Solberg, PhD
Medical Physicist
University of California, San Fransisco
“I think the important questions to ask when diagnosed with cancer are: Do you have a cancer center? A multidisciplinary team? Does a body like the National Cancer Institute recognize your cancer center? Do your practitioners—surgeons, radiation oncologists—have specialized training? You want to know that your doctors have been trained and that they have enough of the right experience.”
James Robar, PhD
Medical Physicist
Dalhousie University
“Newer evidence shows that if we use stereotactic radiosurgery for up to 10 brain metastases then we can get improved outcomes in terms of the quality of life for that patient. Particularly over the past two years or so, we’ve seen the number of brain metastases that we’ll treat, or the maximum number that we’ll treat increase from three to a maximum of 10.”
Looking to explore cutting-edge technologies for the treatment of brain metastasis? Want a second opinion? Search our comprehensive database of Brainlab Novalis Radiosurgery experts for a facility near you.
