Benefits of spinal meningioma resection.

Background: Spinal meningiomas account for approximately 40% of intradural extramedullary tumors. As they are usually slow growing, some patients are often diagnosed late in the clinical course when they have developed myelopathy.

Methods: Here, we retrospectively studied a cohort of 51 patients undergoing surgery for spinal meningiomas. The median follow-up period was 45.9 months (range, 1-168 months). Assessment included evaluation of functional outcomes (e.g., comparison of the pre and postoperative status using the modified McCormick Functional Scale) and identification of prognostic factors.

Results: Seventeen patients with grade IV (McCormick Scale) neurological deficits on admission underwent surgical resection; 4 of 5 grade III (McCormick Scale) and 14 patients (Grade IV) improved within 2.11 months (mean time) postoperatively. There was no surgical mortality and the morbidity rate was 16%.

Conclusion: Patients with advanced neurological deficits/myelopathy (Grades III or IV on the McCormick Scale) improved following surgical resection of spinal meningiomas.