Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy Beneficial for Brain Tumors

THURSDAY, Aug. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) shows promise for patients with primary and metastatic brain tumors, with short hospital stays and preserved quality of life, according to a study published online Aug. 17 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Eric C. Leuthardt, M.D., from Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues analyzed data from the LAANTERN prospective multicenter registry, with data from patients with brain tumors from 25 U.S. centers between 2015 and 2023. The study included 787 patients with primary or metastatic brain tumors treated with LITT (445 and 342 patients, respectively).

The median length of hospital stay was 32.4 hours; 62.6 percent of patients avoided admission to the intensive care unit. The researchers found that the adverse event rate was 12.8 percent, with 65.5 percent of events transient. The rate of mortality was 0.25 percent. In 30 to 40 percent of patients, anticonvulsants were stopped; after LITT, 80 percent of patients stopped steroids. Quality of life remained stable to three years. In patients with high-grade glioma and recurrent metastases, a greater extent of ablation and smaller lesion size were associated with significant improvements in survival outcomes.

“We are shifting the entire framework of how we handle brain tumors,” Leuthardt said in a statement. “When patients are told they have months to live, having the option of a low-risk procedure that gets them back home to their families in just over a day is profoundly meaningful.”

Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, including Monteris Medical, which funded the study.

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