Our Approach & Expertise

Our Publications Visit PubMed for our journal articles from our brain tumor experts go

Many new approaches to treatment of brain metastases either originated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering or are offered to eligible patients through our clinical trial process.

To help plan surgery, we use imaging techniques -- such as functional MRI and diffusion tractography -- that can map areas of the brain, including speech and motor centers. (See below for additional information about these techniques.)

Our radiation oncologists use intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) to treat brain tumors. IMRT, which is one of the most advanced and precise radiation treatment techniques, uses radiation beams of varying intensity created to match specific tumor angles and shapes so that the tumor is targeted as precisely and uniformly as possible. This helps to reduce the dosage of radiation to healthy tissues and possibly the side effects of treatment.

Novel chemotherapeutic approaches include clinical trials evaluating new combinations of drugs and new agents designed to target metastases in the brain.

Our Surgical Expertise

Our surgeons offer patients the most sophisticated diagnostic and treatment technologies available. Our surgical expertise combined with these advanced technologies enables us to treat brain tumors with the best therapies currently available.

• Intraoperative Imaging Suite

  Memorial Sloan-Kettering is one of a few hospitals in the country that has an intraoperative imaging suite equipped with a high-field strength MRI scanner in the operating room. Performing brain surgery in this setting enables the neurosurgeon to reevaluate the tumor with MRI during the operation, allowing for increased surgical precision and a reduced need for a second surgery.

Our Brain Tumor Center

In addition to providing our patients the very best care available, our physicians and scientists are working to improve the ways in which we diagnose and treat metastatic brain tumors. Fostering collaboration between Memorial Sloan-Kettering's clinical and research arms, the Brain Tumor Center generates research and preclinical data on primary brain tumors and metastatic tumors to the brain. This, in turn, promotes the translation of basic science and preclinical data into clinical trials.

Work undertaken through the Brain Tumor Center builds on initiatives already underway at Memorial Hospital and the Sloan-Kettering Institute, including research that offers promising new leads in understanding the basic biology of tumors that affect the nervous system

For more information, visit the Brain Tumor Center section of our Web site.

Focus on the Patient

At Memorial Sloan-Kettering, we believe that treating the whole person, not just the disease, is the best way to provide care for patients and family members coping with a diagnosis of a metastatic brain tumor. Our medical staff understands that having a tumor that affects the brain or spinal cord can be overwhelming, and we are always available to help address the needs and concerns of our patients and their family members.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering offers a broad range of psychosocial support programs designed to help patients and family members cope with the spectrum of issues related to life during and after treatment. For more information about the support services we offer patients with brain tumors, their families, and caregivers, visit the Follow-Up Care & Support Services section of our Web site.