Spinal meningiomas. Personal experience and review of literature

Background: to present personal experience in the surgical management of spinal meningiomas, also the literature results review too. Methods: 32 patients (4 men and 28 women) harboring spinal meningiomas who had undergone microsurgical resection were treated between 2002 and 2012 in our department. Clinical presentation, diagnosis, histological examination, microsurgical resection, functional outcome were evaluated, defining potential prognosis factors associated with these lesions. Results: tumors site was intradural, extramedullary with different topography: the most common the thoracic region, posterolateral and antero-lateral. In all cases neurologic improvement was noted after operation, without instability, despite the extent of preoperative deficits. Transient motor deficits were observed in 2 thoracal anterior placed tumors without mortality. In 2 cases with semimaligne meningioma (6,25%) recurrence was noted at one and two years after first operation, initial diagnosis was transitional type meningioma. Conclusion: benign spinal meningiomas should have always early diagnosis and microsurgical total resection for a good outcome. For semimalignant or even malignant cases, radiotherapy should be considered.