DNA and prognosis of meningiomas: a comparative cytological and fluorescence-cytophotometrical study of 71 tumours

Abstract

DNA analysis in meningiomas was performed using flow-fluorescence cytometry in 71 tumours. Three subcategories of rather small, medium-sized or clearly abnormal growth activities were evident in each of the fibroblastic, transitional and syncytial tumour types. These categories reflected grades 1, 2 or 3 of malignancy on a four-grade scale in which the primary fibroscarcomas of the meninges are grade 4. Richly vascularized (haemangioblastic) meningiomas of our series comprised only two subcategories: these included 7 tumours with slight signs of proliferation and 1 with increased growth, probably indicating a propensity to recur. Tumours of grades 2 and 3 have a tendency to recur, which is probably due more to their biological behaviour than to the efficiency of the surgical treatment. The most variable patterns of DNA distribution are detected in the so-called "anaplastic" meningiomas: some of them are microscopically polymorphous blastomas but show unimodal diploid karyograms, whereas the proliferative indizes, ranging between 1 to 15, were obviously indicative for slow-growing benign tumours. The majority of polymorphous and anaplastic meningiomas, however, are characterized by a rather abnormal tetraploidy or aneu/polyploidy not uncommon in a relapse. The corresponding DNA distribution was demonstrated in a recurrent papillomatous meningioma in agreement with its dubious histological prognosis.

Edema and Malignancy in Meningiomas

“…Correlation of mitosis and necrosis with brain edema in was found in 92 % of the cases in one previous study, 37 but this correlation was not seen in other series. 40,41,42 Regarding the correlation of results of CT with the malignancy of the meningiomas, one study showed that 3 kinds of tumor-brain interfaces characterized by different difficulties in microsurgical dissection-smooth type, tran-sitional type, and invasive type-were very precisely correlated with CT images of halo-like and finger-like hypodense areas, allowing prediction of the microsurgical effort to be made in surgery for removal of meningiomas.…”

Cell-Kinetic Characteristics of Human Brain Tumors

“…In a previous experience we showed a relationship between the presence of aneuploid clones in menin gioma cells studied by FCM and the malignant behav ior of these neoplasms [1,4,7,24,26]. However, a benign fibroblastic meningioma had a high LI and aneuploid DNA distribution (case No.…”

Transformação sarcomatosa em meningeoma: Relato de caso e revisão da literatura

“…O padrão papilar, raramente encontrado em meningeomas benignos, é fator preditivo de comportamento biológico mais agressivo. Os meningeomas malignos normalmente são tetraplóides e apresentam um pico 4c na citometria de fluxo 5 . O índice de proliferação aumentado, avaliado por diversos métodos, tem sido correlacionado com malignidade dos meningeomas 11,14,18,20 .…”