Meningioma
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Meningioma - benign tumors of the meninges, capable of squeezing the adjacent brain tissue. Symptoms of a meningioma depend on the location of the tumor. The diagnosis is made using MRI with a contrast agent.
Treatment of meningioma: excision, stereotactic radiosurgery, and sometimes radiotherapy.
[Epidemiology
Meningiomas, especially less than 2 cm in diameter, are the most common intracranial tumors. Meningioma is the only brain tumor that is more common in women. A benign tumor that occurs at the age of 40-60 years (sometimes in childhood) can develop anywhere in the dura mater, more often over the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital bones of the skull by the convectional surface next to the venous sinus, along the base of the skull, in posterior cranial fossa, rarely - in the ventricles, there are multiple lesions.
Symptoms of the meningiomas
Symptoms of meningiomas are determined by the localization of the tumor. Tumors along the median line in the elderly can cause dementia with the appearance of a minor focal symptomatology.
Complications and consequences
Diagnostics of the meningiomas
Diagnostic procedures, as for other brain tumors, usually include MRI with paramagnetic contrast. Bone pathology (for example, hyperostosis on the convectional surface of the brain, changes in the Turkish saddle) may appear as an accidental finding on a CT or radiograph of the skull.
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Treatment of the meningiomas
To trace the development of asymptomatic meningioma can be based on the dynamics of the results of repeated neuroimaging studies. Symptomatic and growing meningiomas should be excised as much as possible. If they are large, grow into blood vessels (usually neighboring veins) or are located next to vital areas (for example, the brain stem), then the operation can be more dangerous than a tumor. Stereotactic radiosurgery is used in surgically inaccessible meningiomas, as well as incomplete excision of the tumor or in elderly patients. If stereotactic radiosurgery is not possible and if the meningioma recurs, radiotherapy is used.