Meningiomas

Abstract

Meningiomas are by far the most common tumours arising from the meninges. Progressive enlargement of the tumour leads to focal or generalised seizure disorders or neurological deficits caused by compression of adjacent neural tissue. Surgery remains the primary treatment of choice, although the use of fractionated radiotherapy or stereotactic single-dose radiosurgery is increasing for meningiomas that are incompletely excised, surgically inaccessible, or recurrent and either atypical or anaplastic. Although most meningiomas have good long-term prognosis after treatment, there are still controversies over management in a proportion of cases. We review various features of meningioma biology, diagnosis, and treatment and provide an overview of the current rationale and evidence base for the various therapeutic approaches.