Background
With the increasing availability of radiological imaging, detection of incidental intracranial meningiomas in asymptomatic patients has increased dramatically. The best management of incidentally found meningiomas is not as clear. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the studies currently available allows for a better understanding of the natural course of asymptomatic meningiomas, a platform for more research, and a foundation on which a standardized guideline for following these tumors may be built.
Methods
We performed a systematic review of the English language literature published before October 2017 with no lower date limit. Data collected from the articles included years of the study, study location, study design, number of patients with asymptomatic meningiomas with follow-up, number of meningiomas, inclusion of NF2 patients, mean age, gender, whether tumor was defined as growing or not, tumor location, MRI characteristics, initial size of the tumors, growth rates, and outcome of follow-up.
Results
Study demographics of the 20 studies included in our meta-analysis (1108 patients, 1175 meningiomas). Meta-analysis for age in growing vs. non-growing tumors revealed inverse relationship between age and growth P |
