Intracranial meningiomas associated with glial tumours: a review based on 54 selected literature cases from the literature and 3 additional personal cases.

The simultaneous occurrence of meningioma and glioma is extremely rare. Three new cases and 54 adequately described in the literature are analyzed. Clinical diagnosis may be difficult due to discrepancy between clinical and radiological findings. Unexpected clinical deterioration following removal of a tumour and relapse simulating recurrence may occur. The introduction of CT technology does not seem to have offered the expected contribution to the early diagnosis of these coincidental lesions, at least before the introduction of the newer generation scanners or MRI. While removal of both tumours in one session yielded the best results, surgery for the sole glioma appeared to be associated with an unacceptably high mortality. Although several aetiopathogenetic hypotheses have been suggested for explaining this curious association, coincidental meningioma and glioma are most likely to be different primary brain tumours occurring randomly in the same individual.