Read article Treatment for meningioma
This page is about treatment for meningiomas. There is information about
Surgery for meningioma
It is often possible to completely remove meningiomas with surgery. But it depends where they are in the brain. Sometimes they grow around important blood vessels or nerves. In these cases, it is not possible to remove them completely.
Radiotherapy for meningioma
If your surgeon can't remove all of the tumour, you may have radiotherapy after the surgery to help stop the tumour from coming back, or slow its growth so that it takes longer to grow back. If you have a meningioma in an area where surgeons can't operate (for example in the base of the skull), radiotherapy can slow down the tumour and help to relieve any symptoms it causes.
Fast growing (high grade) meningiomas
Specialists usually suggest radiotherapy after surgery for high grade meningiomas, even if the whole tumour is removed. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the tumour will come back. If the tumour does come back your doctor may suggest chemotherapy with drugs such as hydroxycarbamide and ifosfamide.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the treating brain tumours section.
It is often possible to completely remove meningiomas with surgery. But it depends where they are in the brain. Sometimes they grow around important blood vessels or nerves. In these cases, it is not possible to remove them completely.
Removing part of the tumour can be a successful treatment in some cases because these brain tumours often grow slowly and are diagnosed in quite elderly patients. More than 9 out of 10 meningiomas diagnosed are low grade.
If your surgeon can remove the whole tumour and it is low grade (grade 1 or 2), you won't need any more treatment after surgery.
If your surgeon can't remove all of the tumour, radiotherapy can either stop the tumour from coming back altogether, or slow it down so that it takes longer to grow back. If you are in poor health, it may be possible to wait before giving radiotherapy to see if the cancer grows back enough to cause symptoms or not.
If you have a meningioma in an area that can't be operated on (for example in the base of the skull), radiotherapy can slow down the tumour and help to relieve any symptoms it causes. For small tumours you may have stereotactic radiotherapy, in which several radiotherapy beams are aimed from different points around your head to precisely target the tumour.
Specialists usually suggest radiotherapy after surgery for high grade meningiomas, even if the whole tumour is removed. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the tumour will come back. You would not usually have chemotherapy for meningioma. Your specialist may want to keep it in reserve in case the cancer comes back. There is no standard chemotherapy. Drugs that may be used include hydroxycarbamide and ifosfamide.
Some experimental treatments that have been tried for high grade meningiomas are high dose chemotherapy, interferon and hormone treatment (an anti progesterone drug called RU-486).
Rated 5 out of 5 based on 1 votes
- Share this: Tweet
-
-
- Print this page
-
Email this page
Increase text size
Decrease text size
Print page
Print basket
Save pages here and print in one go
Nurse helpline
Questions about cancer? Call freephone
0808 800 4040
or email us
