[Meningiomas of the spinal canal. Clinical aspects and long-term results]

Within a period of 27 years a total of 102 patients (93 women, 9 men) were operated on because of a spinal meningioma. With a mean duration of the disease of 25 months, about two thirds of the meningioma carriers were operated on in an advanced stage of the disease. In the period of follow-up examinations of at least three years an improvement occurred in 68.8 per cent of the patients. Of these 53.9 per cent were able to walk by themselves and 14.7 per cent needed help, 18.6 per cent became fit for work in their professions or trades. Fourteen patients (13.7%) were in a condition requiring special care. The total mortality rate related to three years post operationem was 17.6 per cent. The prognosis for the benign meningiomas in the spinal canal is clearly diminished by a retarded recognition.