Radiosurgical Trends for Treatment of Vestibular Schwannomas in the United States

Abstract

Objectives:

(1) Analyze the recent trends in radiosurgery for vestibular schwannomas (VS). (2) Determine the number of VS treated with radiosurgery since 1990 in the United States.

Methods:

Large databases were obtained by contacting the manufacturers of the 2 main radiosurgical machines used to treat VS in the United States. Analysis of de-identified data from Leksell Gamma Knife reporting was carried out to investigate the treatment trends for VS. The main variable investigated was the number of VS treated by radiosurgery in the United States. Extrapolations were made to the available data to estimate the trends of radiosurgical treatment.

Results:

The number of VS treated by radiosurgery has been increasing. In the US, radiosurgery for treatment of VS was approximately 150 to 200 per year from 1991 to 1993. However, VS cases treated by radiosurgery were approximately 1520 and 1490 in 2011 and 2012, respectively. This indicates an approximate average annual rate of increase of about 4.7% (SD: 8.6%). Currently, treatment of VS accounts for 8.4% of all head and neck radiosurgical procedures in the United States. Since 1991, the approximate number of patients undergoing radiosurgery for VS is 16,000 in the United States and 70,000 worldwide.

Conclusions:

The current study shows a possible changing trend in the management of VS. Our findings support the conclusion of other studies that suggest a growing number of patients are opting to receive radiosurgical treatment. Additionally, the data highlights the growing population of VS treated with radiosurgery.