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Treating meningioma

Your medical team will consider a range of factors about your meningioma when deciding the most appropriate brain tumour treatment.

Things that your medical team will consider when deciding what treatment is right for you can include:

  • Location of tumour
  • Size of tumour
  • Grade of tumour
  • Your general health
  • Symptoms

Due to all of these considerations, treatment can vary from patient to patient.

Treatment options for meningiomas include:

Some meningiomas may not need immediate treatment. This is usually when they are small, slow growing and not causing symptoms. You will see your specialist for regular check ups/MRI scans every three, six or 12 months.

Surgery is the main treatment for meningiomas and in many cases meningiomas can be fully removed by surgery with no requirement for further treatment. Patients will still have regular scans for a period of time to ensure that there is no recurrence.

Radiotherapy may be used on its own when surgery is not possible, or following surgery where the tumour is unable to be completely removed, or to reduce the chance of the tumour returning. Sometimes a type of radiotherapy called stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) is used.

Chemotherapy is rarely used in the treatment of meningiomas. Meningiomas occur outside of the blood-brain-barrier*, therefore some drugs can reach them. However, meningiomas are very resistant to currently available chemotherapies.

Chemotherapy may still be used in some circumstances, such as a high grade meningioma recurring after surgery or radiotherapy.

*The blood-brain-barrier (BBB) is a membrane of cells which helps to protect the brain from harmful substances in the blood, such as bacteria or viruses, that could cause infections.

Know what to expect

Our FREE Brain Tumour Information Pack has been designed to guide you through the healthcare system, answer your questions, and give you confidence when discussing treatment and care options with your medical team.

Unfortunately, we’re currently unable to send Information Packs by post. All the information contained in the pack can be found in the email you’ll receive after completing this form.