The meningeal tissue is the sheath that surrounds and protects the brain and spinal cord and lines the skull and spinal canal. Meningiomas grow from this thin layer, (meningothelium). Most tumors are benign and a few are malignant.
These benign tumors are characterized by the possibility of their growth again, even after several years, despite their complete eradication. These tumors may return to growth in the same place as the tumor in which it was removed or in other places, and there is a possibility that the tumor may occur for the first time in several places in the brain at the same time, and this happens in patients who suffer from the genetic disease that accompanies the occurrence of hereditary neurofibromas. These tumors affect the meninges in most places In the brain, both around the brain from above, around the cavity of the superior sagittal venous cavity, the area of the base of the brain, the area of the cavernous sinus, the area of the stem cerebellar angle, and around the spinal cord
The best treatment for these benign tumors is to get rid of them completely, and this is done in two ways:
- Brain microsurgery to remove meningiomas:
This surgery is done by introducing general anesthesia by opening the skull and performing surgical excision. We prefer to perform this operation on tumors that can be reached without causing major neurological complications. Such as tumors at the top of the brain, tumors around the upper sagittal sinus, and tumors in the olfactory nerve area. We recommend microsurgical treatment for large tumors, especially those that cause major neurological symptoms, to remove the pressure of the tumor on sensitive parts of the brain, and in cases of meningioma of the spinal cord. - Gamma Knife radiosurgery without surgery:
This modern technique is characterized by controlling the tumor and killing it in a single session without surgery, without wounds or bleeding, and without anesthesia, so that the patient is fully conscious and without hair falling from the scalp, and the patient can leave the hospital on the evening of the treatment day.
This treatment is performed by installing a 3D stereotactic surgery device on the patient’s head using local anesthesia, and by conducting a 3D magnetic resonance imaging of the brain to determine the borders, size and coordinates of the tumor, and then directing the gamma knife beams from (201) radial tubes at the same time to the tumor only. Without causing any damage or injury to the healthy brain tissue adjacent to the tumor.
We recommend this treatment for tumors whose diameter is less than 4 cm, and for places that are difficult to surgically eradicate, especially tumors located in the bases of the brain because it is difficult to reach and eradicate them without neurological complications. For satisfactory reasons.
In cases where the tumor is large and its diameter is more than 4 cm, we perform partial surgical removal of the tumor to reduce its size and avoid complications of complete removal in dangerous places in the brain, and then we treat the remnants of the tumor with a Gamma Knife.
The success rate for controlling the tumor is more than 90%, whether by shrinking the tumor or converting it into a dormant mass during the three years following treatment. Therefore, we always recommend patients with clinical follow-up and color magnetic imaging every year to follow up the effect of the gamma knife on the tumor, and to follow up the cases in which the tumor was surgically obtained to ensure that the tumor does not grow back as expected with this type of tumor.