James Fick, MD

Surgical resection has been the preferred treatment for meningiomas since the era of the pioneering neurosurgeon, Harvey Cushing. The great majority of these tumors are histologically benign, circumscribed lesions that grow slowly and tend to compress and displace, rather than invade, the surrounding intracranial structures. In contrast to the intrinsic brain tumors of glial origin, most meningiomas have well-defined borders, enabling the surgeon to dissect the tumor capsule from the arachnoid lining of the adjacent brain, blood vessels, and cranial nerves. Consequently, complete removal can be accomplished without needing to sacrifice functional tissue. In these cases, surgery is often curative, and associated with the preservation of, if not improvements in, the neurological condition.