Multiple intracranial and spinal meningiomas without the stigmata of neurofibromatosis: two cases

Multiple meningiomas in different neuroaxial compartments are quite rare. W e describe the case of a 44-year-old woman who developed three intracranial meningiomas and 8 years later a TS dorsal meningioma. Histologically, the frontal and dorsal tumors appeared as benign psammomatouss meningiomas. Bot h tumors were removed successfully. The second patient was a 31-year-old wo man who developed right benign fronto-parietal transitional meningioma. She presented local and spheno-orbital recurrences, then a lombo-sacral lesion . The histological picture worsened from benign to malignant with multiple recurrences. Several mechanisms could account for multiple meningiomas. Suc h meningiomas could arise from a single primary tumor via subarachnoidal sp read of a benign or malignant nature. Alternatively, they could be atypical forms of neurofibromatosis type 2 or tumors with a multifocal origin.