[Suprasellar meningioma. A disease still frequently diagnosed too late]. / Das supraselläre Meningeom. Ein immer noch häufig sehr spät erkanntes Krankheitsbild.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Suprasellar meningioma continues to be diagnosed very late after the onset of first eye symptoms. This study was aimed at demonstrating the effect of delay on the long-term visual loss. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the course of a retrospective study all 53 consecutive patients operated on for suprasellar meningioma from 1982 to 1991 were contacted (47 women, 6 men; average age 49.5 years) 46 of the 49 surviving consented to the follow-up investigation. The extent of preoperative visual loss, tumour size, presence of optic nerve atrophy and duration of visual loss, data that provide an indirect measure of how soon the correct diagnosis was made, were analysed with regard to their effect on long-term ophthalmological results. RESULTS: The mean period elapsing from onset of first visual symptoms to the definitive diagnosis of suprasellar meningioma was 22.3 months. The data showed that the long-term results were the worse the later the diagnosis was made. CONCLUSIONS: The commonly very late diagnosis of suprasellar meningioma as cause of visual loss is an international problem and is presumably due to the low incidence of the tumour (1-2 cases per 1 mill. population per year). If long-term results are to be improved, primary care doctors must be made aware of the differential diagnosis of visual loss caused by pressure from a tumour.

Suprasellar meningiomas--neurological and visual outcome at long-term follow-up in a homogeneous series of patients treated microsurgically.

Most of the previously published surgical series of suprasellar meningiomas have two disadvantages: (1) patients involved were treated within a relatively long time period, making analysis more difficult, (2) radiographic long term follow-up examinations with either CT- or MRI-scans were not performed. Both disadvantages were overcome in our retrospective clinical study, consisting of 50 consecutive patients with suprasellar meningiomas treated between 1982 and 1991. Radiological, ophthalmological, and neurological investigations were performed preoperatively, postoperatively and at long term follow-up (mean: 5.7 years). A radiologically confirmed radical tumour removal could be achieved in 84% of patients. Both, the peri-operative mortality (2%) and serious operative morbidity (6%) were low. However, 12% of patients developed late onset epilepsy. At long term follow-up, visual function was improved in 67%, unchanged in 9% and worsened in 24%. In more than 50% of patients the vision showed recovery over a longer time period than the first 10 days after operation. Radiographic control examinations revealed tumour recurrences in 2 patients (both asymptomatic) and progress of residual tumour in 5 patients (2 symptomatic, 3 asymptomatic). Since introduction of modern neurosurgery, a clear improvement in the surgical treatment of suprasellar meningiomas can be observed. However, the still long delay in diagnosing these tumours correctly prevents a further improvement of the ophthalmological results at long-term follow-up. Due to a relatively high rate of late onset epilepsy, anticonvulsive prophylaxis for 6 months seems to be justified. Regarding present preoperative diagnostic measures, ia-DSA seems only be indicated in patients with CT/MRI-scans, suspicious for tumourous narrowing or invasion of major cerebral arteries. In addition, we recommend radiographic control examinations at regular time intervals to confirm radical tumour removal and to detect the "ideal" point of time for renewed treatment.