Metastatic tumors are the most common brain tumor discovered each year.
From this group of patients, somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 patients could potentially benefit from either surgical resection or stereotactic radiosurgery. For such patients, radiosurgery has similar improvements in survival compared to surgical resection. Patients with ongoing systemic disease or greater than 4 metastases are rarely considered for any type of surgery. First, and most obvious, the patient is able to avoid the pain and discomfort of a craniotomy. Second, because the procedure is performed under local anesthesia and does not require any time in an intensive care unit, the medical risks are greatly reduced.