Toward understanding recurrent meningioma: the potential role of lysosomal cysteine proteases and their inhibitors.

Object: The first aim of this study was to diagnose more aggressive and potentially recurrent meningiomas using an in vitro embryonic chick heart invasiveness assay in which lysosomal enzyme cathepsin B was used as the invasiveness marker. The second aim was to confirm if cathepsin B and/or cathepsin L and their endogenous inhibitors were also prognostic parameters in the clinical study of 119 patients with meningioma.

Methods: Primary meningioma cultured spheroids were "confronted" with embryonic chick heart spheroids in vitro, and cathepsin B was used as molecular marker to immunolabel the invasive tumor cells.

Evaluation of fractionated radiotherapy and gamma knife radiosurgery in cavernous sinus meningiomas: treatment strategy.

Objective: To investigate the respective role of fractionated radiotherapy (FR) and gamma knife stereotactic (GKS) radiosurgery in cavernous sinus meningioma (CSM) treatment.

Methods: The authors report the long-term follow-up of two populations of patients harboring CSMs treated either by FR (Group I, 38 patients) or GKS radiosurgery (Group II, 36 patients). There were 31 females with a mean age of 53 years in Group I and 29 females with a mean age of 51.