Meningiomas of the lateral ventricles. Neuroradiological and surgical considerations in 18 cases

The clinical and neuroradiological findings and the surgical results in a series of 18 patients with meningiomas of the lateral ventricles, operated on over a 23-year period, are described. This experience is compared with previously reported series and the following conclusions are drawn: 1) these tumors have no characteristic symptomatology; 2) the preoperative diagnosis should be reached by means of both computerized tomography and carotid and vertebral angiography; 3) the safest surgical approach is through a sagittal paramedian parieto-occipital cortical incision; and 4) piecemeal removal is crucial for achieving total extirpation of the tumor with minimum damage of the surrounding brain tissue and for careful intraoperative hemostasis.