The Efficacy of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Cavernous Malformations: A Meta-Analysis and Review

This meta-analysis is to evaluate the clinical efficacy of gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) for treating cavernous malformations. PubMed, Ovid Embase, and Ovid Medline electronic databases were searched. The primary outcome is hemorrhage rate and this meta-analysis is performed. Nine studies are included in this meta-analysis. The overall risk ratio (RR) of hemorrhage rate of pre-GKRS and post-GKRS is 6.08 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.04–7.35). The overall RR is 3.03 (95% CI, 2.65–4.11) between the hemorrhage rate of pre-GKRS and the first 2 years postradiosurgery, and the overall RR is 12.13 (95% CI, 1.73–85.07) comparing pre-GKRS with 2 years after GKRS. There is no significant difference of the hemorrhage rate between the first 2 years postradiosurgery and 2 years after GKRS (RR = 2.81; 95% CI, 0.20–13.42). The neurologic deficiency is the most common radiosurgery-related complication. Patients with cerebral cavernous malformations, especially ones that were deep seated and surgically inaccessible, seem to benefit from GKRS owing to a reduction of annual hemorrhage rate in the first 2 years and 2 years after, despite several cases that suffer from negative side effects of radiation.