Primary intraosseous meningioma

Primary intraosseous meningioma of the skull is an uncommon lesion often confused preoperatively with a primary bone tumor of the skull. The case of an intraosseous meningioma without dural connection or association with a cranial suture is reported that was radiographically diagnosed as Paget's disease and initially treated conservatively. Persistent headache prompted a biopsy, yielding a benign, heavily ossified, and psammomatous meningioma. The lesion was treated with wide surgical excision and acrylic cranioplasty. Subsequent review of the literature has revealed 35 additional cases of purely intraosseous meningioma. An analysis of these 36 cases demonstrates a mean patient age at diagnosis of 45 years and a 2:1 female preponderance, with the majority of lesions associated with cranial sutures. Sixty-four percent of the lesions were hyperostotic on plain skull x-ray films; the rest were osteolytic or a mixture of both. There was no relationship to prior trauma. The treatment of choice is wide surgical resection followed by cranial reconstruction.