About Meningiomas – Brain Tumors
Meningiomas are a common brain tumor, and while most are benign, they can be the source of very serious side effects. In such instances, medical intervention may be required, and usually involves a microsurgical operation for removal of the tumor.
Meningiomas are tumors that originate in the meninges, which are the layers of tissue that envelope the brain and spinal cord. The tumor most often develops from the middle layer of the 3-layered meningeal structure, which is known as the arachnoid. As mentioned previously, meningiomas are typically benign, however this does not mean that they are not dangerous. Because the tumors develop from the layers that envelope all sides of the brain, the organ that is responsible for thought, meningiomas can develop in various regions around the brain, including particularly sensitive locations. Quite often, the tumors cause significant symptoms, necessitating surgical intervention.
The physicians at Herzliya Medical Center’s Neurosurgical Center for Excellence are leaders in their field both in Israel and around the world, highly skilled in the treatment of brain tumors, including meningiomas. Their skills and experience lead to impressive rates of success for the treatment of meningiomas.
Meningiomas – Characteristics and Symptoms
As mentioned previously, meningiomas are considered to be the most common type of tumor that appears in the brain and make up roughly one-third of all tumors found in the brain. Meningiomas develop from the layers that surround the brain and not from the brain tissue itself, and therefore appear “around” the brain, but can appear in a variety of different regions: at the base of the skull, adjacent to the frontal lobes in forehead area, in the region that separates between the two hemispheres of the brain, and elsewhere.
The region in which the meningioma develops is of crucial importance. It bears influence regarding the symptoms the tumor causes, the treatment approach, the complexity of the operation for its removal (if the decision is made to perform one) and the chances for success of the entire treatment process.
Meningiomas are typically benign. Only 2% are found to be malignant (those classified as having the highest grade of malignancy – WHO-3), while the overwhelming majority of meningiomas are defined as having the lowest grade of malignancy, WHO-1, indicating that they are not malignant at all.
Many people with meningiomas can lead normal, healthy lives without ever even knowing that they have developed the tumor. When the tumors are small, especially when they first develop, they cause no impairment at all of brain function or of the function of adjacent organs.
Nevertheless, meningiomas can certainly cause severe symptoms that will necessitate treatment. The very fact that a foreign structure is developing in the brain, which is so sensitive, crowded and dense, can affect the entire region. For example, the meningioma may apply pressure to a particular nerve, entirely disrupting its normal function. The tumor may press on the brain tissues themselves, causing headaches, nausea and dizziness. In addition, it may can disrupt proper drainage of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), thereby resulting in a dangerous increase in intracranial pressure.
These symptoms, and many others that can be caused by meningiomas, will necessitate treatment, which may sometimes be needed urgently without delay, in order to prevent irreversible damage to the brain and its normal function.
How Are Meningiomas Diagnosed and Located?
Small meningiomas (which are defined as meningiomas that measure less than 2 cm in diameter) can develop in the brain without being felt and without causing any symptoms at all. These types of meningiomas are usually discovered incidentally during imaging tests performed for some other reason.
When a meningioma becomes symptomatic and negatively affects your daily life, you will be sent for a CT of the head or an MRI at the Herzliya Medical Center’s advanced Imaging Institute. The imaging tests performed will allow your doctor to verify the development of a meningioma (or rule out the possibility of a meningioma and search for other causes of the symptoms from which you suffer), identify the exact location of the tumor, and determine its size and additional important features. Depending on the findings discovered during these examinations, your doctor can decide on the next step: the treatment option best for you.
How are meningiomas treated?
It is important to remember that the treatment plan is determined for the most part based on the symptoms from which you suffer. If you report no symptoms, and if the presence of the meningioma does not affect your way of life or your health, your doctor will usually choose to monitor you regularly in order to ensure that the meningioma does not grow rapidly, does not become malignant and does not require surgical intervention.
In the event of the development of a meningioma that is associated with symptoms of one type or another, an operation to completely remove the tumor will usually be decided upon. Sometimes, radiotherapy will also be performed during or after the operation, in order to reduce the tumor’s volume and to arrest its rate of development.
Since the meningioma develops around the brain and not inside it, your doctor will aspire to remove the tumor without harming any healthy brain tissue. This requires the use of advanced microsurgical instruments, which allow for the delicate and precise removal of the tumor. There are a number of common surgical approaches for the removal of meningiomas, including craniotomies (via the skull) or endoscopic surgery (using miniscule surgical instruments). The choice of which surgical approach to use is based on a number of factors, including the size of the tumor, the location of the tumor, and more.
Surgery for the removal of a meningioma typically takes a few hours and is considered to be very complex. Success rates, however, are very high, especially when the operation is performed by highly experienced surgeons with extensive knowledge and scores of such operations behind them. The Neurosurgical Center for Excellence at the Herzliya Medical Center places a number of such specialists at your disposal, among them Dr. Sagi Harnof, Prof. Zvi Ram, Prof. Moshe Hadani and Dr. Zion Zibli, each of whom has extensive experience in performing operations for the removal of meningiomas from various regions around the brain.
Are you suffering from various symptoms that may indicate the development of a brain tumor?
Have you been diagnosed with a meningioma?
Contact us today at the Neurosurgical Center for Excellence at the Herzliya Medical Center to receive the most professional diagnosis and treatment, at the highest international standards.