What is the background behind your study?
There is both literature and daily practice controversy concerning the appropriate number and size of brain metastasis in deciding the acceptability of a patient for GKS. Some physicians and insurance companies will defer to the literature and offer criticism or even limit payments if these criteria are exceeded, and they seem to be constantly changing. Some centers will offer numerous re-treatments to surviving patients whereas others will not.
What is the purpose of your study?
We sought to determine practice patterns.
Describe your patient group.
This question was not answered by the author
Describe what you did.
We undertook a survey of all of the Gamma Knife Centers in the United States to see what the actual practices are. The results will illustrate the variability with regard to ''academic center'' vs ''private practice center'', and to determine how many centers are tracking their outcomes, and will offer multiple treatment sessions.
Describe your main findings.
This question was not answered by the author
Describe the main limitation of this study.
This was a survey of only American centers.
Describe your main conclusion.
The results may encourage more liberal use of Gamma Knife treatment if the physicians can be assured that others are doing the same.
Describe the importance of your findings and how they can be used by others.
A study of practice patterns can identify growing trends in management.
