Our Approach & Expertise

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Pioneering Treatments & Technology

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. Our physicians have pioneered new technologies to remove brain tumors while sparing sensitive neighboring tissues. These include advances in the planning and implementation of neurosurgery, using technologies such as functional MRI -- an advanced imaging technique that can map areas of the brain like those regions responsible for speech and motor function. Tissue-sparing advances in radiation treatment include 3-D conformal radiation therapy, which uses computer imaging to map the exact location of a tumor and calculate the particular radiation beam angles that will target the tumor as precisely as possible -- especially important when dealing with the brain. New chemotherapeutic approaches include clinical trials evaluating new combinations of anticancer drugs or novel agents designed to target metastases in the brain.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering is one of a few hospitals in the country that has an intra-operative imaging suite equipped with a high-field strength magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in the operating room. Performing brain surgery in this setting allows the neurosurgeon to reevaluate the tumor with MRI during the operation, thus enabling him or her to operate with increased precision and reducing the need for a second surgery.