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Civilian cranial gunshot wounds are common injuries associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Simple wound closure has been previously proposed as an alternative treatment option for a small subset of patients, but the exact outcomes of this strategy are not well-defined. The objective of this paper was to describe the scientific literature reporting simple wound closure of civilian cranial gunshot wounds, its effect on short-term and long-term neurologic outcomes, and rates of seizures and infections. A systematic literature review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The strength of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria. Seventeen studies were found that met inclusion criteria. There was very low strength of evidence that patients treated with simple wound closure can achieve good short and long-term neurologic outcomes. There was very low strength of evidence that simple wound closure has a higher incidence of mortality compared to operative intervention, especially in patients with initial low Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores. There was very low strength of evidence that patients treated with simple wound closure have a small risk of subsequently developing infections or seizures. In conclusion, under most circumstances, neurosurgical operative intervention should be viewed as the optimal treatment for salvageable civilian cranial gunshot wound patients. However, our literature review showed that simple wound closure is safe and viable. More data are needed to determine the appropriate clinical scenario for using this alternative option.

OBJECTIVES: Patients undergoing stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastases require additional radiation for relapse. Our objective is to determine the factors associated with salvage SRS versus whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) for salvage of first intracranial failure (ICF) after upfront SRS. METHOD: We identified a cohort of 110 patients with brain metastases treated with SRS in the definitive or postoperative setting followed by subsequent salvage WBRT or SRS at least one month after initial SRS. Clinical and demographic characteristics were retrospectively recorded. RESULTS: 78 Patients received SRS and 32 patients received WBRT at the time of first ICF. On multivariate analysis (MVA) factors associated with decreased use of salvage SRS were male gender (p=0.044) and local progression (p