Surgical treatment of intracranial meningiomas in patients over 65 years old: A retrospective study of 70 cases

Abstract

Aim: Intracranial meningiomas are the most common types of brain tumor in patients over 65 years of age. Surgical resection in this group of patients may be at risk of severe complications, due to limited physiological capacities and the presence of comorbidities. This retrospective study aimed to summarise outcome data of patients older than 65 years who underwent surgery for intracranial meningioma at our clinic between Jan 2007 and Dec 2012. Materials and Methods: Medical records of 70 cases diagnosed with intracranial meningioma were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic and clinical data (age, sex, symptoms), tumor localization, histopathologic properties, American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) class, complications of the early postoperative period were analyzed. Results: Male/female ratio was 0.37 and mean age was 71.3. The most common experienced symptoms were headache (78.5%), motor deficit (18.5%) and seizure (17.1%). Tumors were mostly settled to convexities (34.3%) and parasagittal regions (17.1%). Histopathological diagnoses were classified as follows; Meningothelial (40.0%), transitional (18.6%), fibroblastic (114%) and psammomateous (11.4%). Postoperative complications were manifested in 10 of 70 patients (14.2%) Complication rate was prominently higher in patients with class III and IV of ASA class. Conclusions: Surgery for intracranial meningiomas in selected elderly patients is beneficial. Old age alone should not be used as a selection criterion for treatment.