Table 1.

Surgery versus surgery + WBRT

First author (Year)	Interventions	Median survival	# pts with recurrence/progressiona	Median time to recurrence/progression
Randomized trials
Patchell [10] (1998)	G1: Surgery (n = 46) G2: Surgery + WBRT (n = 49)	G1: 43 wks G2: 48 wks (Log-rank; P = NS)	At original site: G1: 21/46 (46%) G2: 5/49 (10%) (P < 0.001) Overall in brain: G1: 32/46 (70%) G2: 9/49 (18%) (P < 0.001)	At original site: G1: 27 wks G2: > 50 wks (Log-rank; P < 0.001) Overall in brain: G1: 26 wks G2: 220 wks (Log-rank; P < 0.001)
Retrospective cohort studies
Armstrong[11] (1994)	G1: Surgery (n = 32) G2: Surgery + WBRT (n = 32) [matched to G1] G3: Surgery +  WBRT (n = 79) [not matched]	G1: 14 months G2: 10 months G3: 15 months (G1 vs. G2: Log-rank; P = NS)	At original site: G1: 11/32 (34%) G2 + G3: 25/111 (23%) (G1 vs. G2 + G3: P = NS) Overall in brain: G1: 38% G2: 47% G3: 42% (G1 vs. G2: P = NS)	NR
Hagen [12] (1990)	G1: Surgery (n = 16) G2: Surgery + WBRT (n = 19)	G1: 8.3 months G2: 6.4 months (Test not specified; P = NS)	At original site: G1: 6/16 (38%) G2: 4/19 (21%) (P = NR) Overall in brain: G1: 11/16 (69%) G2: 7/19 (37%) (P = NR)	At original site: NR Overall in brain: G1: 5.7 months G2: 26.6 months (Test not specified; P < 0.05)
Skibber [13] (1996)	G1: Surgery (n = 12) G2: Surgery + WBRT (n = 22)	G1: 6 months G2: 18 months (Generalized Wilcoxon; P = 0.002)	At original site: NR Overall in brain: G1: 9/12 (75%) G2: 5/22 (23%) (P = NR)	NR

G1 Group 1, G2 Group 2, G3 Group 3, NR Not reported, NS Not significant, Pts Patients, WBRT Whole-brain radiation therapy

^aNumber of pts with recurrence/progression of brain metastases, unless otherwise specified