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Comparative Study
. 2025 Mar-Apr;39(2):e70011.
doi: 10.1111/jvim.70011.

Comparison of Survival After Treatment of Presumed Intracranial Meningioma by Radiotherapy or Surgery in 285 Dogs

Rachel Geiger  1 , Joe Mankin  1 , Holger A Volk  2 , Steven de Decker  2 , Nate van Asselt  3 , Karanbir Randhawa  3 , Tara Ehling  4 , Charles A Maitz  4 , Ada Naramor  4 , Joan R Coates  4 , Catherine Stalin  5 , Lauren Johnstone  5 , Joanna Morris  5 , Ioannis N Plessas  6 , Alexander Forward  6 , Laurent Garosi  6 , Elena Scarpante  7 , Giunio Cherubini  7 , Tom Harcourt-Brown  8 , Sheila Carrera-Justiz  9 , Jishnu Rao Gutti  9 , Marilia Takada  9 , Joel White  10 , Koichi Nagata  10 , Marc Kent  10 , Renee Barber  10 , Daisuke Ito  11 , Tomohiro Nakayama  11 , Ayaka Oshima  11 , Naoki Sekigucki  11 , Lauren Smith-Oskrochi  1 , Nick Jeffery  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparison of Survival After Treatment of Presumed Intracranial Meningioma by Radiotherapy or Surgery in 285 Dogs

Rachel Geiger et al. J Vet Intern Med. 2025 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Background: The comparative effectiveness of radiotherapy and surgery for treating intracranial meningioma is unknown.

Objectives: To compare survival after treatment of suspected intracranial meningioma by either surgery or radiotherapy.

Animals: Two hundred eighty-five companion dogs with suspected intracranial meningiomas presenting to 11 specialty clinics in three countries.

Methods: Parallel cohort comparison study on retrospective data. Dogs diagnosed with intracranial meningioma by board-certified veterinary neurologists or radiologists and treated by radiotherapy or surgery were identified through medical record searches and presenting and survival data extracted. Lesion site was classified as rostro- or caudotentorial and size was measured on contrast magnetic resonance images. Outcome was all-cause death. Analysis of survival by Cox proportional hazards, including selection for optimal multivariable model using lasso, counterfactual modeling including variables associated with treatment allocation and survival.

Results: One hundred sixty-eight dogs received radiotherapy and 117 received surgery. All analyses indicated reduced survival associated with surgery compared to radiotherapy. There was a median survival after surgery of 297 (IQR: 99-768) days compared with 696 (IQR: 368-999) for dogs treated by radiation, associated with a univariable hazard ratio of 1.802 (95% CI: 1.357-2.394). Counterfactual modeling estimated a mean survival of 480 (95% CI: 395-564) days after surgery and 673 (95% CI: 565-782) days after radiotherapy, representing a decrease in survival of 29%. Location and size of the lesion were not associated with survival duration.

Conclusions and clinical importance: Dogs with suspected intracranial meningioma have substantially superior survival after radiotherapy compared to surgery.

Keywords: brain tumor; canine; meningioma; neurology; oncology‐treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Post‐contrast T1‐weighted MR images illustrating the method to measure lesion volume. (A) “Raw” image; (B) Image with traced lesion outline to determine area. All images showing the lesion were traced and summed to produce an estimate of lesion volume.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Kaplan–Meier curve illustrating the survival of dogs that underwent surgical excision (green, dashed line) or radiation therapy (red) for a single (presumed) intracranial meningioma. The wider shaded areas correspond to 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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