Clinical features and surgical outcome in patients with asymptomatic meningiomas

The clinical features and surgical outcomes of 108 patients with an asymptomatic meningioma were studied in patients who were admitted to any neurosurgical institute in the Yamaguchi prefecture in the southern part of Japan between 1986 and 1995. Their clinical characteristics were compared with 414 patients with symptomatic meningiomas over the same period. Asymptomatic patients were older than symptomatic patients, although not significantly so. Tumours were located in the right cerebral hemisphere (46 versus 31%, p = 0.003) more frequently in asymptomatic than in symptomatic patients. Four of 75 surgically-treated asymptomatic patients had a poor outcome, including two with severe disability and two deaths. Such outcomes did not differ significantly in frequency compared with those of 356 surgically-treated symptomatic patients which included 11 with severe disability and 11 deaths. Postoperative morbidity and mortality in asymptomatic patients are not negligible. Poor outcome was associated with more advanced age and with midline tumours.