title: [The treatment for asymptomatic meningiomas in the era of radiosurgery].
abstract: We evaluated the treatment results in asymptomatic meningiomas in the era of radiosurgery. We encountered 56 patients with asymptomatic meningiomas from January, 1994 to December, 2001. There were 16 male patients and 40 female patients. The most common location was the cerebral convexity. We performed gamma knife radiosurgery for three patients after diagnosis of cavernous sinus meningiomas. The other patients were followed-up after diagnosis for a mean follow-up period of 30.8 months (5 months to 8 years). Tumor growth was verified in 25 patients (43%) and two patients (3.7%) suffered neurological deficits. Among the tumor growth patients, operative resection was performed in six patients (11%) and gamma knife radiosurgery was performed in four patients (7.5%). The other patients were placed under observation. We decided the treatment strategy paying attention to the tumor location, tumor growth speed, tumor size and operative difficulty. The tumor growth rate was 0.1 cm/year among the patients with tumor growth. It was 0.72 cm/year (0.02 to 1.54 cm/year) in the operative group, 0.3 cm/year (0.04 to 0.76 cm/year) in the gamma knife radiosurgery group and 0.08 cm/year (0.01 to 0.76 cm/year) in the observed group. One patient suffered procedure-related deterioration of paresis after operation. The treatment of asymptomatic meningiomas must be decided depending on their natural history and locations. We recommend early radiosurgery for cavernous sinus meningiomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Osaka City General Hospital, Osaka, 2-13-22 Miyakojima-hondohri, Miyakojima-ku, Osaka-city, Osaka 534-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyasu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwai
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: Toshie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morikawa
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishiguro
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsusaka
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komiyama
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yasui
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008579:Meningioma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016634:Radiosurgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome