Treatment of meningeal gliomatosis

To evaluate whether vigorous treatment is beneficial for patients with meningeal gliomatosis (MG) we reviewed the case records of 20 consecutive patients treated for a symptomatic MG in our center. All received systemic or intrathecal chemotherapy and six received additional cranial or spinal radiotherapy. Six patients (30%) achieved a partial response (one low-grade astrocytoma, two anaplastic astrocytomas, one anaplastic oligodendroglioma and two glioblastomas). In these cases, clinical improvement was associated with radiological improvement on CT scan or MRI in five and with a major cerebrospinal fluid improvement in three. Three patients (15%) were stable for 3 months or more and 11 (55%) had progressive disease. Median survival was longer for the responding patients (10 months) than for the other patients (2 months). This study suggests that some patients with MG may benefit from a treatment combining radiotherapy to symptomatic areas and chemotherapy with agents that cross the blood-brain barrier or are delivered directly into the CSF.