Meningioma (Latin meningioma) are benign brain tumors - only about 5 percent of them are malignant. What are the symptoms of meningioma? How is meningiomas treated? Find out what the prognosis for meningiomas is.
Meningiomasare most common in patients between the ages of 40 and 70, and women are twice as likely to have these brain tumors. In middle age, this ratio is as high as 3: 1, and in the case of meningiomas of the spinal canal, even 6: 1. More frequent meningiomas in women could suggest the influence of sex hormones on tumor development.
Meningiomas are brain tumorsvery rare in children (1.5 percent of all cases). Meningiomas are mainly located in the area of the sickle of the brain (the dura mater extending in the vertical plane), the area of the sphenoid bone and the Turkish saddle.
Factors that increase your risk of developing meningioma include genes and radiation. There are suspicions that hormones and viral infections may affect the appearance of meningiomas, but so far it has not been possible to confirm this.
Contents:
- Meningiomas: symptoms
- Meningiomas: diagnosis
- Meningioma: treatment
- Meningiomas: prognosis
Meningiomas: symptoms
The symptoms of meningiomas, as in other brain tumors, depend primarily on the location of the tumor.
Symptoms of meningioma include:
- headaches
- long-term seizures
- visual disturbance
- olfactory disorder
- hearing impairment
- hemiparesis (reduced strength and limited range of motion on one side of the body)
- sensory disturbance
- disturbed functions of cranial nerves (e.g. facial numbness)
- increase in intracranial pressure
Meningiomas of the spinal cord cause root pain, paresis of the lower limbs, and even their paralysis (inability to move), disorders of the sphincters.
It also happens that the meningioma does not show any symptoms.
Meningiomas: diagnosis
The above symptoms should prompt the doctor to order an in-depth diagnosis. The doctor makes a diagnosis after performing imaging tests, i.e. mainly computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR).
Meningioma: treatment
Treatment of meningiomas involves surgical removal of the tumor. The location of the tumor, its size, vascularization and dysfunction of the cranial nerves are of great importance in the prognosis.
A neurosurgeon always strives to remove the tumor completely, but if resection of a meningioma may impair the patient's performance, a decision is often made to remove the tumor only partially. Additionally, the dura mater is removed, which reduces the risk of recurrence of the meningioma.
In some cases, the procedure is preceded by embolization, i.e. closing the lumen of the vessels supplying the tumor. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are used as complementary treatments. In the case of spinal meningiomas, treatment consists of surgical removal of the tumor.
During histopathological and molecular studies, many types of receptors for female sex hormones were discovered on the surface of meningioma cells, but their role is not clear. Attempts to create hormone therapy have not brought any positive results so far.
Meningiomas: prognosis
It is possible to fully heal a meningioma, provided that it is completely removed during the operation. Possible recurrences result from leaving neoplastic cells due to e.g. difficult operating conditions resulting from the location of the tumor or undetected ingrowth of the tumor into the veins of the skull and affects 5-15 percent of patients.
Recurrences occur very late - on average 6.5 years after surgery and are often asymptomatic. Metastases outside the central nervous system (usually blood-borne metastases to the lungs) are very rare.
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