ABSTRACT
Objective To analyse the therapeutic outcome of cavernous sinus meningiomas by gamma knife radiosurgery. Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted of 37 patients with cavernous sinus meningiomas. The median maximum diameter was 2.6 cm (1.4～3.2 cm) with the median dose to the tumor margin of 15.7Gy(8～22 Gy), the isodose curve to the tumor margin of 40%～60% and the target numbers of 1～9. The radiosurgical dose to the optic nerve and brain stem was not more than 10 Gy and 15 Gy, respectively. Results After an average follow up of 22.6 months(ranging 4～43 months), unchanged symptoms were found in 22 cases(59.5%), alleviated in 12 cases(32.4%) and complications of optic and trigeminal nerve in 3 cases(8.1%). By MR image analysis, unchanged size was found in 18 cases(48.6%), smaller size in 15 cases(40.5%) and larger size in 4 cases(10 8%). One factor analysis of variance revealed that tumor recurrence was associated with marginal dosage(