Can meningiomas recur after surgery?

  Many patients ask: What are the chances of recurrence after meningioma surgery? How to reduce the chance of recurrence? Are there other treatment options besides surgery to cure the tumor?  Currently, there is only one way to cure meningioma, surgery. Other treatments, such as radiotherapy and gamma knife, are not curative, and drug therapy has not yet shown reliable results.  Foreign data show that the recurrence rate of benign meningiomas varies widely by site after surgical removal. The rate of recurrence after meningioma surgery depends on the nature of the tumor and the degree of surgical resection (grade). The degree of surgical resection is also a very important factor. Internationally, there are five levels of surgical resection, and primary resection requires removal of the affected dura and skull.  It is now believed that recurrence after primary resection is related to the invasion of brain tissue by meningioma. Therefore, partial resection of the affected brain tissue (i.e., 0 and resection of meningioma) can be performed for non-functional meningioma to reduce the chance of recurrence.