Meningioma and Pregnancy

Abstract

Meningiomas are one of the most frequent primary intracranial tumours, representing one-third of all intracranialneoplasms. The vast majority of meningiomas are histologically benign, but recurrence and progression is quite frequent. They occur usually between the 6th and 7th decade, the female/male ratio is 3:2. Although rare in pregnancy, when occurring, they can cause serious, life-threatening complications due to rapid growth and unfavourable localisation. There are two dominant hypothesis explaining rapid growth in pregnancy: the role of hormonal effects and hemodynamic changes. Several studies tested these theories but none provided unequivocal answer probably because the pathomechanism is complex and multifactorial. We provide an overview of the pathomechanism of meningiomas in pregnancy with emphasis on data obtained by advanced neuropathological, molecular biological, bioinformatic, imaging and epidemiological methods. A better understanding of the processes leading to meningioma development and growth in pregnancy will help us to design personalized therapy and reduce morbidity and mortality.

Pathophysiology of meningioma growth in pregnancy

“…They reported rapid progression of visual impairment, which appeared reversible post-partum and recurred in the next pregnancy [ 18 ]. One important aspect of meningioma in pregnancy is the potentially rapid growth with life-threatening complications [ 19 ]. Owing to its localisation it can have a distribution similar to meningioma in the non-pregnant population.…”

Automatic Prediction of Meningioma Grade Image Based on Data Amplification and Improved Convolutional Neural Network

“…The growth of such tumors is slow, recurrence after complete resection is rare, and prognosis is good. 20% to 25% of meningioma is grade II, atypical tumors, and 1% to 6% is grade III, malignancies [19]. These types of meningioma have strong invasive ability and characteristic of rapid growth and are easy to relapse after surgery [20].…”