Extracranial meningioma.

Abstract

AbstractMeningioma can be a diagnostic problem for the head and neck surgeon and the surgical pathologist by reason of extracranial manifestation and the varying histological patterns seen in small biopsy specimens submitted from various extracranial sites. During the thirty year period 1940–1970, 405 cases of meningioma were seen at the New York Hospital and the Memorial Hospital and the clinical findings have been reviewed together with recent pertinent literature. Thirty‐four cases were spinal in origin: 9 cervical, 22 dorsal, and 2 lumbar. An external mass was present in 20% of the intracranial tumors: the orbit was involved in 30 patients, the outer table and scalp in 25, the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity in 10, and the parotid and parapharyngeal region in 5. Three cases are documented primary extracranial meningiomas arising is soft parts; one free in the orbit and two in the neck masquerading as deep lobe parotid gland tumors. The pathological features of extra‐cranial meningioma were identical with the intracranial variety and a standard classification of the main histological types is outlined. A variety of differential diagnoses were entertained before the true nature of the neoplasm was established. The necessity for sophisticated radiographic studies and neurosurgical attention to the intracranial component of the tumor is emphasized.