Role of brachytherapy in the management of the skull base meningioma treatment of skull base meningiomas

Abstract

The treatment of primary and recurrent skull base meningiomas presents a formidable surgical problem. Fifteen patients with primary and recurrent skull base meningiomas were treated by means of interstitial irradiation with iodine 125 (125I) seed implantation. The physical characteristics of 125I enabled the authors to administer a minimum tumor dose ranging from 100 to 500 Gy at a low dose rate of 0.05-0.25 Gy per hour. All 15 patients are alive at a median follow-up of 29 months. Of the 15 patients, 2 with calcification and 2 without calcification achieved only partial responses. The remaining 11 patients achieved a complete response. No early or late complications were observed. From these data, the authors conclude that interstitial irradiation with 125I seeds is an effective, safe, and simple method in the treatment of both recurrent and primary skull base meningiomas.