Frontal Skull-Base Meningioma:Its Management and Outcome

Objective: To analyze the clinical manifestations, diagnostic evaluation and the functional outcome of surgery of anterior skull base meningioma.

Material and method: It is a prospective hospital based study on 22 patients who were admitted and diagnosed to be a case of anterior skull base meningioma and have completed at least three months of follow-up after surgery.

Result: Anterior skull base meningioma is commonly seen in the female population with a female to male ratio of 1.75:1. Maximum incidence was found in the age group of 40 to 50 years of age. Visual impairment was the most common (59.1%) mode of presentation. Due to the involvement of the other cranial nerves of anterior cranial fossa, diplopia (22.7%), ocular paresis (22.7%), papilledema (50%), optic atrophy (31.8%), Foster Kennedy Syndrome (13.6%), anosmia (22.7%) are common findings. Due to the mass effect, headache (54.5%), mental changes (27.3%), seizure (22.7%) are also commonly found. Computerized tomography scanning was useful for defining the osseous anatomy while MR imaging and MR angiography defined the relationship of the tumor to the optic nerves and chiasm as well as the other intracranial neurovascular structures.

Conclusion: Thus early diagnosis is desirable for successful treatment with a better chance of good postoperative outcome.