Pediatric meningiomas: 10-year experience with 39 patients

• Published in: Journal of neuro-oncology 2020-09, Vol.149 (3), p.543-553
• Main Authors: He, Wenbo, Liu, Zhiyong, Teng, Haibo, Tang, Liansha, Jie, Danyang, Duan, Zonghao, Yu, Heye, Xu, Jianguo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brain cancer; Clinical Study; Medical prognosis; Medical records; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meningioma; Neurology; Oncology; Patients; Pediatrics; Prognosis; Surgery; Survival analysis
• ISSN: 0167-594X; 1573-7373
• DOI: 10.1007/s11060-020-03649-8

Objective The purpose of this article was to study the characteristics of pediatric meningiomas, including the clinical symptom, anatomic location, radiological finding, treatment approaches, and long-term surgical outcome as well as the possible influence factors of the prognosis. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and follow-up data of 39 pediatric patients who were treated by operation for intracranial meningiomas in West-China Hospital between 2009–2019. Results The incidence of pediatric meningioma was 0.74%. The mean age at surgery was 12.2 years and the ratio of male to female was 1.3. Three cases (7.7%) were related to neurofibromas. WHO grade I was found in 26 patients (66.7%) and higher grades was seen in 13 (33.3%). The most common location sites were convexity (35.9%). Gross total excision was achieved in 28 patients (71.8%). The mean follow-up period was 54.4 months. The recurrence rate was 41.9%. By survival analysis, only gross total resection (p = 0.028) was associated with favorable outcome. Conclusion Meningiomas in children are very rare and have a slight male predominance. Pediatric meningiomas are more commonly located in intraventricular and have higher incidence rate of high-grade than that in adults. Although being challenging, the gross total excision should be underdone to achieve a better prognosis.