Intracranial meningiomas after high-dose irradiation.
Three patients who presented with intracranial meningiomas 12, 15, and 20 years, respectively, after therapeutic high-dose irradiation of a primary brain tumor are described. Analysis of these cases and similar documented cases suggests that meningiomas after high-dose irradiation constitute a recognizable entity. Patients with such tumors received radiation therapy at a young age (mean age, 9.4 years). After a latent period of 2 to 47 years (mean, 19.8 years) they developed meningiomas at the site of irradiation, at a much younger age than patients with "spontaneous" meningiomas. Similar to the situation with meningiomas after low-dose irradiation, a relatively high proportion of meningiomas induced by high-dose irradiation tend to be malignant and biologically aggressive. A very young age at the time of irradiation seems to predispose to the induction of malignant meningiomas, rather than benign tumors. These unusual features provide indirect evidence that high-dose radiation may play a role in the pathogenesis of meningiomas.
Soffer
D
D
Department of Pathology, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
Gomori
J M
JM
Siegal
T
T
Shalit
M N
MN
D000293:Adolescent; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008579:Meningioma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000473:pathology