Background: We present the long-term results of a consecutive series of patients with meningiomas treated by LINAC-radiosurgery using the micro-multi-leaf collimator technique (μMLC).
Methods: Between May 2001 and July 2009, 78 patients (m: f = 024:54; median age, 56.8 years; range, 20.1-81 years) with 87 intracranial meningiomas (78 WHO I, seven WHO II, two WHO III) were treated with μMLC-LINAC radiosurgery at our institution, either as a primary or salvage treatment following one or more microsurgical procedures. Fifty-eight of 87 tumors (66.7%) were located in the skull base. The remaining 29 meningiomas (33.3%) were located in the convexity of the brain. The median tumor volume was 4.8 ml (range, 0.2-18.3 ml). The median tumor surface dose, maximal dose, and therapeutic isodose were 12 Gy, 16 Gy, and 75%, respectively.
Results: For retrospective evaluation, we included 70 patients (78 tumors) with a minimum radiological follow-up of 24 months. After a median follow-up of 79.7 months (range, 24.2-109.1 months), 24 patients (34.3%) improved in their clinical status (paresis of N. abducens 18/48, facial paresis 4/8, and hemiparesis 2/9), 41 patients remained stable (58.6%), three patients had treatment-related temporary complaints (4.3%); two patients developed vertigo, and one had a left-sided hemihypesthesia. All complaints recovered completely after steroid medication within 2 weeks. Two patients (2.8%) developed permanent trigeminal neuralgia. Follow-up MR images showed a partial remission in 21 tumors (26.9%) and a stable tumor size in 55 cases (70.5%). Two patients with high-grade meningiomas showed a tumor progression (one WHO II and one WHO III meningioma). At the end of follow-up (July 2010), the actuarial 5- and 9-year progression-free survival after radiosurgery were 98 and 96%, respectively. There was no treatment-related mortality.
Conclusions: LINAC radiosurgery using a micro multi-leaf collimator for complex shaped intracranial meningiomas is effective yielding a high local tumor control, whereas the treatment-related morbidity remains low.