Spinal meningiomas: evaluation of 41 patients.
OBJECTIVE
Spinal meningiomas are relatively frequent intraspinal tumors. They constitute 25-46% of all primary spinal neoplasms.


METHODS
Forty-one patients with spinal meningiomas surgically treated between 1986 and 2001 are reviewed in this report. There were 32 females and 9 males, aged 16 to 73 years old. Tumor location was cervical in 7 cases and thoracic in 34 cases. All tumors were intradural. All of the patients were operated by laminectomy in prone position.


RESULTS
Total excision was achieved in 40 (98%) patients and subtotal excision in 1(2%). The majority of the tumors were meningothelial (42%) or psammomatous (25%). There was no surgical mortality. Four patients (10%) suffered from morbidity: One patient with CSF fistula, 1 deep venous thrombosis, 1 case with paraparesis and 1 wound infection was seen. Neither multiple meningiomas nor malign meningiomas were seen in our series.


CONCLUSIONS
Spinal meningiomas are benign tumors and should be excised totally. If the preoperative neurological status is not complicated, fairly good outcome can be achieved.
Department of Neurosurgery, Marmara University Neurological Sciences Institute, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey. peker@atlas.net.tr
S
S
Peker
A
A
Cerçi
S
S
Ozgen
N
N
Isik
M
M
Kalelioglu
M N
MN
Pamir
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008579:Meningioma / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome