[Role of computer tomography in the surgical treatment of metastatic brain tumors].

The authors analyse the results of computed tomography (CT) and the operative findings in 107 patients with metastatic tumors of the brain. The computer-tomographic image was studied in comparison with the size, macro- and microscopic structure of the removed metastases and in 15 cases of metastases discovered on autopsy. The results showed that CT makes it possible to determine the number, size, and location of the metastases, the attendant edema of the cerebral tissue, and the developmental stage of the tumorous node. With consideration for the duration of metastasis growth, these data, in a relatively favourable somatic condition of the patient, enable one to determine the indications for removing a solitary as well as one or two neurologically "resounding" tumorous nodes in multiple metastases if the others are in the subclinical stage of development.