Inzidenz, Mortalität und Langzeitergebnisse von Meningeomen : Eine bevölkerungsbezogene Studie aus Deutschland

Abstract

Background: Meningiomas, which are benign tumors arising from the protective coverings of the brain and spinal cord, have received limited attention in terms of understanding their risk factors and epidemiology, particularly when compared to malignant glial tumors. Population-based data on cancer burden and patient outcomes for meningiomas are scarce. Methods: This study utilized population-based data from Saarland, in South-Western Germany, including 992 patients who were diagnosed between 2000 and 2015 with their first meningioma. The study analyzed incidence and mortality rates, observed and relative survival estimates, and cumulative incidence of tumor recurrence up to 10 years after diagnosis, taking into account factors like sex, age, WHO grade, and surgical intervention. Results: Not only were patient treated at the regional university hospital included in this population-based study but also the ones that were treated somewhere else or not undergo any surgical treatment at all. The average age of patients at diagnosis was 63 years, whereby 70% suffering from WHO grade I meningiomas, 28% having WHO grad II meningiomas and 3% were diagnosed with WHO grade III meningiomas. Combining all patients, the 10-year observed and relative survival rates amounted to 72% and 91%. Tumor-related mortality showed variation by sex and increased with age at diagnosis and the WHO grade of the tumor. Regarding the meningioma recurrence in a period of 10 years, the overall cumulative incidence was 9%. Conclusion: Being the first modern population-based study of menigioma incidence, mortality and patient outcomes in Germany, this analysis and study may, due to its unselected sample of patients, contribute to fill a previously existing gap in the literature of meningiomas.