Cerebral edema in intracranial meningiomas: evidence for local and diffuse patterns and factors associated with its occurrence.
In a review of 68 meningiomas with good quality computed tomography (CT) scans, 40% had significant CT edema, in the sense of having low absorption around tumor. Two distinct patterns of edema could be distinguished. One was a diffuse white matter process appearing to represent active transudation of water into white matter; this occurred in 43% of tumors with edema. The second, occurring in 57% of tumors with edema, was a localized peritumoral process. This distinction has important pathophysiologic and clinical implications. The diffuse pattern did not appear to reflect tumor size: it was found in 54.6% of tumors from 2 to 4 cm in diameter and 33% of tumors over 4 cm. It appeared more often in tumors of the lateral sphenoid wing or subfrontal region and was more often associated with atypical and syncytial histological type, (p < 0.05, two-tailed t test.). It occurred disproportionately often in atypical tumors and appeared to reflect some intrinsic property of the tumor rather than compression of surrounding structures.
Abe
T
T
Neurosurgery Services, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo.
Black
P M
PM
Ojemann
R G
RG
Hedley-White
E T
ET
D001929:Brain Edema / Q000209:etiology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D008579:Meningioma / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed