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Meningioma
Acoustic Neuroma's cousin

Vestibular Schwannoma is an Acoustic Neuroma by another name. However, a meningioma is a different tumor, also benign and slow-growing like an AN. The meninges are the lining of the brain and the spinal cord, and when the cells in this tissue grow into a tumor, you get "meningiomas". Unlike ANs, which are always in the same location, meningiomas may be in different places.  See http://www.cancerbacup.org.uk/info/factsheet/menin.htm

When a meningioma is located where ANs are usually found, the two look similar, exhibit the same symptoms, and can be confused for each other.

[The doctor] said that tumor might very well be a MENINGIOMA which look very much like an AN on the MRI films. Now we are totally confused. What is a Meningioma and where can I find some information about it?

Experience matters when trying to distinguish between the two, it's not something where you can read a manual and know exactly how to do it... but for the most experienced practitioners, we are told that it is "extremely unlikely" that there would be a meningioma that cannot be distinguished from an AN. "It can be difficult, but there are obvious differences."

When a meniongioma has the same location and shape as an AN, surgical treatment considerations for the two tumors are very similar. However, radiosurgical considerations differ because of the difference in cell biology:

[My FSR doctor] told me that in his opinion I have a meningioma which should be treated with 30 treatments over the course of 6 weeks rather than 5 treatments over the course of 10 days.

Here are some other meningioma resources:

There is at least one meningioma patient (Don) whose story is in the Archive.

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Last Edited: Wednesday, October 30, 2002