Intracranial Extracranial Huge Meningioma: Report of a Case

Abstract

Meningioma accounts for 15% to 20% of all intracranial neoplasms. Intracranial meningioma is a common brain tumor but huge meningiomas with extracranial extensions are extremely rare. Various symptoms, including neurological deficits and epileptic seizures are very frequent in these cases. Surgery still remains the principal form of the treatment and must be preceded by appropriate preoperative diagnostics. We report an unusual case of a huge meningioma of the brain (intracranial-extracranial extension) invading and destroying the skull bone and subcutaneous and cutaneous tissue. A 44-year old man in otherwise good general health was admitted to our University Neurosurgical Clinic. The MRI revealed an intracranial-extracranial lesion invading the skull bone, subcutaneous and cutaneous tissue. The tumour was removed by microsurgery. The bone was found to be predominantly lytic, and dura was infiltrated by the tumor. The bone and the dura were completely removed together with the entire tumor. Such cases are very rarely seen these days because of modern radiology techniques A giant intracranial-extracranial meningioma is therefore very unusual. Radiotherapy is generally recommended for incompletely resected meningioma and malignant meningioma.