Innovative therapeutic strategies for effective treatment of brain metastases

Abstract

Brain metastases are the most prevalent of intracranial malignancies. They are associated with a very poor prognosis and near 100% mortality. This has been the case for decades, largely because we lack effective therapeutics to augment surgery and radiotherapy. Notwithstanding improvements in the precision and efficacy of these life-prolonging treatments, with no reliable options for adjunct systemic therapy, brain recurrences are virtually inevitable. The factors limiting intracranial efficacy of existing agents are both physiological and molecular in nature. For example, heterogeneous permeability, abnormal perfusion and high interstitial pressure oppose the conventional convective deliver..