Factors affecting outcome following treatment of patients with cavernous sinus meningiomas.

Object: Although there is a considerable volume of literature available on the treatment of patients with cavernous sinus meningiomas (CSMs), most of the data regarding tumor control and survival come from case studies or single-institution series. The authors performed a meta-analysis of reported tumor control and survival rates of patients described in the published literature, with an emphasis on specific prognostic factors.

Methods: The authors systematically analyzed the published literature and found more than 3000 patients treated for CSMs. Separate meta-analyses were performed to calculate pooled rates of recurrence and cranial neuropathy after 1) gross-total resection, 2) subtotal resection without adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy or radiosurgery, and 3) stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) alone. Results were expressed as pooled proportions, and random-effects models were used to incorporate any heterogeneity present to generate a pooled proportion. Individual studies were weighted using the inverse variance method, and 95% CIs for each group were calculated from the pooled proportions.

Results: A total of 2065 nonduplicated patients treated for CSM met inclusion criteria for the analysis. Comparisons of the 95% CIs for recurrence of these 3 cohorts revealed that SRS-treated patients experienced improved rates of recurrence (3.2% [95% CI 1.9-4.5%]) compared with either gross-total resection (11.8% [95% CI 7.4-16.1%]) or subtotal resection alone (11.1% [95% CI 6.6-15.7%]) (p < 0.01). The authors found that the pooled mixed-effects rate of cranial neuropathy was markedly higher in patients undergoing resection (59.6% [95% CI 50.3-67.5%]) than for those undergoing SRS alone (25.7% [95% CI 11.5-38.9%]) (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Radiosurgery provided improved rates of tumor control compared with surgery alone, regardless of the subjective extent of resection.