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. 2019 Sep 3:34:5.
doi: 10.11604/pamj.2019.34.5.17536. eCollection 2019.

Our surgical experience in foramen magnum meningiomas: clinical series of 11 cases

Emre Bilgin  1 , Gökhan Çavus  1 , Vedat Açik  1 , Ali Arslan  1 , Semih Kivanç Olguner  1 , Ismail Istemen  1 , Yurdal Gezercan  1 , Ali Ihsan Ökten  1
Affiliations

Our surgical experience in foramen magnum meningiomas: clinical series of 11 cases

Emre Bilgin et al. Pan Afr Med J. .

Abstract

Introduction: We aimed to discuss surgical approaches and results that we applied foramen magnum meningiomas.

Methods: We retrospectively investigated 11 foramen magnum meningioma cases, who had been operated between the dates of February 2012 and March 2017.

Results: Eight of the patients were females and 3 of the patients were males, the age range was 32-75 and the age average was 60.8. 5 of the tumors were anatomically localized as posterolateral, 2 of them were localized as anterolateral, 2 of them were localized as lateral and 2 of them were localized as anterior according to the brain stem or spinal cord. Posterior far lateral (4 patients) approach including C1 laminoplasty (7 patients) and 1/3 condyle resection was surgically applied to the patients with median suboccipital craniotomy. Gross total excision was applied to 82% of the patients (9 patients) and subtotal mass excision was applied to 18% (2 patients) of the patients. The most frequent post-operative complications were temporary lower cranial nerve (CN IX and X ) palsy in our 2 anterior localized cases (18%) and also cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistula in our 1 anterior localized case with difficulty in swallowing (dysphagia). Karnofsky scores of the patients, who were followed for 18 months in post-operative 12 and 48 months of average, in the last follow-up were 80 and no post-operative mortality occurred.

Conclusion: Posterior midline suboccipital and far lateral approaches that we apply in our own series were appropriate approaches for foramen magnum meningiomas.

Keywords: C1 laminoplastY; Foramen magnum; craniotomy; meningioma; suboccipital.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
62 years old female patient (A) pre-operative sagittal MRI, (B) pre-operative axial MRI. Black arrow indicates tumor
Figure 2
Figure 2
68 years old female patient (A) pre-operative sagittal MRI, (B) post-operative sagittal MRI. Black arrow indicates tumor
Figure 3
Figure 3
54 years old female patient pre-op MRI images and back arrow indicates tumor
Figure 4
Figure 4
54 years old female patient post-op MRI images
Figure 5
Figure 5
Postoperative cervical axial ct ((A) postoperative the patient's bone removed by suboccipital craniotomy was repositioned with mini-plate and mini-screw and (B) C1 laminoplasty. Black arrow indicates occipital bone and C1 lamina)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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