Meningiomas sometimes but rarely shrink on their own although most meningiomas either remain unchanged or grow larger.
Small meningiomas can cause problems if they grow and depending on the location and may cause headaches, changes in vision, hearing or smell and possibly cause seizures.
A meningioma should be removed when the meningioma gets too larger or is cancerous or when the meningioma presses against the spinal cord or brain.
Most meningiomas do not need to be removed and are most often slow growing, non cancerous and small.
You can stop meningiomas from growing by having them totally removed or by having radiation therapy.
You can live a full life with a benign meningioma and most people with benign meningiomas have a high survival rate and most meningiomas are manageable and treatable.
The average size of a meningioma is 3 cm at the time of diagnoses.
The life expectancy of a meningioma patient is between 5 and 10 years and sometimes longer as more than 90 percent of adults between the ages of 20 to 44 years of age will survive at least 5 years or more after being diagnosed with meningioma.
A meningioma can make you tired as fatigue and tiredness is a frequent problem in people with meningioma even several years after treatment.
Meningioma can spread to the lungs as the lung is also the most common site of meningioma metastasis, followed by the bones and your liver.
You should worry about a meningioma when you experience other symptoms such as loss of coordination, weakness in a leg or arm, trouble thinking, seizures, hearing loss, vision loss, nausea and headache.
A small meningioma is not considered serious and most meningiomas are benign and non cancerous but when they grow and depending on their location they can become serious and be life threatening.
Some types of meningiomas are more aggressive than others.
The common site of meningioma is along the surface of the brain and meningioma forms along the dura mater which is the outemost layer of tissue which covers and protects your brain and your spinal cord.
The dura mater is also one of three layers which form the meninges.
Meningioma is sometimes urgent but not always.
If you have sudden onset of seizures, sudden changes in your memory or vision then meningioma becomes urgent and you should seek emergency medical care right away.
Meningiomas are tumors which arise from the meninges which are the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.
Although not technically a brain tumor, meningiomas are included in this category because it can compress or squeeze the adjacent brain, nerves and vessels.
If you leave a meningioma untreated, it can grow as large as a grapefruit and can cause persistent headaches, nausea, loss of neurological function, weakness and/or numbness and tingling on one side of the body, seizures, hearing or vision loss, balance problems, and muscle weakness.
Most meningiomas are small, slow-growing and noncancerous, and many do not need to be removed or otherwise treated.
However, if a meningioma presses against the brain or spinal cord, surgery or another treatment may be considered to manage the resulting neurological symptoms.
Although the majority of meningiomas are benign, these tumors can grow slowly until they are very large, if left undiscovered, and, in some locations, can be severely disabling and life-threatening. Other forms of meningioma may be more aggressive.
More than 90% of adults between the ages of 20 and 44 survive for five years or longer after being diagnosed with meningioma.
This encouraging survival rate includes many patients who have gone on to live several decades after their diagnosis.
Meningiomas are the most common kind of brain tumor and account for about 30 percent of all brain tumors and most are treatable.
In fact, the majority of these tumors can be removed surgically, and many do not return.
Larger meningiomas may be more difficult to treat surgically in terms of their complete removal, depending on where they are located.
Although most large and giant meningiomas require surgical treatment, the decision for removal of smaller meningiomas (less than 3 centimeters in diameter) must be individualized.