The role of MRI in defining the characteristic patterns of intracranial meningioma : prospective study

Abstract EN

objective : the purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of mri in defining the characteristic pattern of intracranial meningiomas and to correlate mri with the histopathological findings in an attempt to predict the histological diagnosis (subtype) prior to surgery.

patients and methods between january 2011 to october 2013.

pre- and post-contrast sagittal and axial t1-weighted images with gd-dtpa and sagittal t2-weighted fast spin echo were obtained in 62 symptomatic patients aged 20-69 years.

the mr images were evaluated in regard to location and laterality of the tumors, signal intensity, contrast homogeneity, presence of meningioma cleft sign, cystic changes, vascularity, mass effect and any other pathological observations (calcification, edema, bony or dural venous sinus invasion).

results : on mri appearance, atypical and malignant meningiomas in contrast with the more benign histology had more heterogeneous signal intensity and enhancement in (80 %) and (100 %) respectively, less obviously showed meningioma cleft sign, more cystic appearance in (60 %) and (100 %) respectively, surrounded by marked edema (+++) degree, exert more mass effect and invade the dural venous sinus in almost all the cases .

conclusion : overall, mri is an excellent non-invasive tool for the preoperative evaluation of intracranial meningiomas and can predict with certainty the aggressive behavior of the more atypical and malignant meningiomas.