Estimating Survival of Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Receiving Whole-brain Radiotherapy with a New Tool

Background/Aim: A new tool for estimating survival of patients receiving whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) for intracerebral metastases from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) was created. Patients and Methods: The new WBRT-30-RCC was developed in 34 patients homogeneously treated with 30 Gy in 10 fractions of WBRT and compared to updated diagnosis-specific graded prognostic assessment DS-GPA and Dziggel score for predicting death within 6 months and survival for at least 6 months following WBRT. Results: WBRT-30-RCC included three groups with 6-month survival rates of 6.7% for those with 8-10 points, 38.5% for those with 12-14 points and 66.7% for those with 16-18 points. Positive predictive values (PPV)s for predicting death within 6 months were 93.3% using WBRT-30-RCC, 77.3% using updated DS-GPA and 93.7% using the Dziggel score. PPVs for predicting survival for at least 6 months were 66.7%, 50.0% and 50.0%, respectively. Conclusion: WBRT-30-RCC was more precise than the other scores in predicting survival for at least 6 months, although all three scores were not optimal. For predicting death within 6 months, WBRT-30-RCC and Dziggel score were similarly accurate and superior to the updated DS-GPA.