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Questions posted in the
Neurology and Neurosurgery Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Question Title: Methods/procedures used to remove optic gliomas and/or meningiomasForum: Neurology Forum
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Hello everyone. My question(s) actually have to do more with recovery after a removal of a optic Glioma. Six years ago I had what was first thought to be a optic glioma removed from my right orbital cavity. 6 months previously, at the age of 20, I was diagnosed with NF-1 . It turns out that the tumor ended up being a non-malignant menigioma, not a optic glioma as previously thought based on the MRI pictures. Before surgery, the right eye had severe proptosis, but no physical pain was felt (except when struck by the occiasonal errant basketball). My neurosurgeon removed most of the tumor. He said because of the diffuse nature of the tumor (it was confined to the orbit)he could not possibly remove all of the affected tissue. My problem is this. The tumor is back, it has being growing steadily since the operation. Is it common for this type of tumor to recurr like this?. If so, what is the point of removal?. Is It possible for the tumor to change from a non-malignant to a malignant form?. The proptosis has returned to almost the same level it was before the operation. We have been monitoring it with mri scans every year, and he has suggested another surgery. Problem is, I do not want to have to go through everything over again. After the first surgery, I was left with a huge scare from the craniotomy, plus left without feeling in the affected area as well as loss of use of my right eyelid. Is there a different (read less invasive) procedure available to me?. As a side note, is there any chance of me regaining use of my eyelid? (is loss of eyelid function common?) Any help/suggestions/refferals/etc would be greatly appreciated. = I am sorry to hear you are having problems again, it predictable however that if all of the origional tumor was not removed that the remaining part would continue to grow and eventually cause a recurrance. The reason that this surgery done at the origional presentation is to debulk the tumor as eventually the bulk would affect te eye itself (if it is still intact) or nearby brain tissue. There is a potential for meningiomas to transform to more malignant variants but this is rare, it is rarer in meningiomas than in almost any other nervous system tumor. As regards other options, the other techniques used to treat tumors are radiation therapy and chemotherapy, however the tumors most responsive to these are malignant ones, since yours is probably benign the chances of this being an option are not realistic. I understand your reluctance to have surgery but if there is proptosis at this stage there is already considerable pressure on the eyeball which will eventually affect vision. There is little chance that you will regain the use of the eye lid as it was presumably damaged at the origional surgery and recovery at this late stage is unlikely.
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