Editorial: Does Quality of Life Supplant Survival in Patients With Brain Metastasis?

".....These comments are not meant to detract from the considerable
effort of theEORTCBMstudy group but rather speak to the challenge
of BM prospective trials. There are two components in the management
of patients with BM: first, controlling CNS disease and preserving
neurologic function; and second, maintaining QOL such that
CNS-directed treatment is not negatively affected. WBRT after either
surgery or SRS treatment of a single BM is superior compared with
observation only (cause-specific mortality, frequency of CNS salvage
therapy, intracranial disease control) as previously demonstrated in
the EORTC trial; what is less clear is the impact of WBRT with respect
to QOL.2"