Surgical Management of Extracranial Meningiomas Arising in the Head and Neck

An Infratemporal Meningioma: A Diagnostic Dilemma

A 46-year-old male presented with painless, recurrent bilateral ear discharge and an enlarging right temporal swelling. There were no neurological deficits. Imaging revealed an enhancing, soft tissue mass at the right infratemporal region involving the right temporalis muscle with a small, enhancing intradural component and associated hyperostosis of the greater wing of the right sphenoid bone. Tumour debulking of the right temporalis tumour was performed. Tumour invasion of the right temporalis muscle was noted intraoperatively. Histopathological result was consistent with fibrous meningioma WHO Grade 1 involving surgical resection margins. Follow-up MRI revealed residual right temporal extracranial component. Thus, plans were made for a second stage tumour debulking, however at time of writing, surgery had not been performed. This case highlights the differing appearances of the common meningioma occurring extracranially with elaboration of its differential diagnosis and management.

Primary Pulmonary Meningioma With Rhabdoid Features

Only 1% to 2% of meningiomas have primary extrameningeal location, which is mostly head and neck region. Primary pulmonary meningiomas (PPMs) are even more uncommon with up to 50 cases reported in the literature. Only 5 cases of PPM with confirmed or possible malignancy have been previously described. Three-grade classification of meningiomas with the accordingly growing risk of aggressive behavior of the tumor has been proposed by the World Health Organization. As it is based on correlations between morphological and clinical features of intracranial meningiomas, the analogous prediction of ectopic tumors prognosis remains questionable due to scarce number of cases. In this article, we present a rare case of PPM with rhabdoid features (World Health Organization grade III), which lacked other signs of malignancy. The patient is doing well for 2 years after the thoracoscopic wedge resection without evidence of the disease recurrence.