Intracranial tumours in the elderly: diagnosis and treatment

A series of 111 intracranial tumours in elderly patients, investigated by modern methods, is reviewed. The clinical picture of progressive neurological deficit, and/or intellectual impairment, did not differ greatly from that of younger patients, but the manifestations of raised intracranial pressure (headache and papilloedema) were much less common in the elderly. Intermittency of symptoms appeared to be a relatively common phenomenon with meningiomas, occurring in four of 12 symptomatic cases. Operative treatment, for removal of meningiomas or relief of obstructive hydrocephalus, produced improvement in almost all cases, with a low morbidity and mortality. High-dose steroid therapy produced substantial, if temporary, benefit in 51% of hemisphere tumours.