Radiation oncologists at Rush University Medical Center are intent on finding ways to avoid damage to the critically important hippocampus and limbic circuit of the brain when cranial radiation is required to treat existing or potential metastatic cancers. The goal is to spare these areas, which are responsible for short-term memory, as well as emotions, motivation, and a range of executive functions, such as planning and decision-making. Cranial radiation is used to destroy tumors that have spread to the brain, which happens in 20 to 25 percent of all cancer patients. It is also used prophylactically to prevent the development of overt intracranial metastases in patients diagnosed with small-cell lung carcinoma.
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