Purpose: To determine the influence of diabetes mellitus (DM) on outcomes in patients with brain metastasis treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 498 patients with brain metastasis treated at our institution with SRS between January 2012 and March 2017.
Results: Eight-four patients (16.9%) held a diagnosis of DM prior to SRS treatment. Diabetics compared to nondiabetics had worse overall survival (OS). DM was found to be a significant predictor of OS on multivariate analysis (HR: 1.41, CI: 1.03-1.92, p = 0.03). When stratified by DM diagnosis, there were no significant differences in incidence of radiation necrosis (p = 0.82), radiation-induced edema (p = 0.88), cerebrospinal fluid leak (p = 0.49), or postoperative infection (p = 0.68).
Conclusions: DM diagnosis was a significant predictor of poorer OS in patients treated for brain metastasis with SRS. Diabetics and nondiabetics experienced similar rates of radiation-associated brain toxicities.
Keywords: Gamma Knife; brain metastasis; diabetes mellitus; radiation necrosis; stereotactic radiosurgery.