OPINION STATEMENT Brain metastases are a major clinical problem in patients with advanced breast cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, and renal cell carcinoma. Initial treatment for patients with brain metastases typically includes radiotherapy, either whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), or both. Surgical resection is generally reserved for good prognosis patients with l...

The quality-of-life and overall survival are improved by platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with localized or disseminated small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) [1, 2]. In nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), platinum-based combinations with new agents (vinorelbine, gemcitabine, taxanes) improve survival in both resected and advanced NSCLC patients [3–6]. Nevertheless, a therapeutic plateau has been...