What are the symptoms of meningioma?

Meningioma is divided into different diseases. Generally, it can cause visual impairment in a person and may even affect normal thinking. Therefore, everyone should be vigilant and use reasonable learning methods in normal times. Regarding the symptoms of meningioma, they may occur in different parts of the body and generally cause headaches, dizziness, loss of appetite, etc.

Meningiomas mostly occur in middle-aged women. The age of onset of meningiomas that originate in the orbit seems to be younger than those that arise in the brain. The younger the age of onset, the faster the tumor develops, the greater the chance of multiple tumors, and the higher the recurrence rate after surgery.

The clinical manifestations of meningiomas originating in the orbit vary depending on the location of the meningioma. Even if the tumor occurs in the optic nerve sheath, the symptoms will be different if it originates in the optic nerve sheath or orbital region. Tumors that occur in the optic nerve sheath often have two growth patterns. One form is tumor cell proliferation and invasion of the thecal space, pia mater and dura mater, but the dura mater is not pierced and the surface remains intact. The tumor develops in both directions of the eyeball and the skull, and has a tubular and thickened appearance. Another form is that the tumor penetrates the dura mater in the early stage, that is, it develops along the longitudinal axis of the optic nerve, surrounds the optic nerve or grows to one side, and has a fusiform or blocky appearance. The tumor continues to grow and is restricted by the orbital wall, forming a cone-shaped mass consistent with the orbital cavity. Tumors that originate in the periosteum grow along the periosteum and do not affect the optic nerve in the early stages. Symptoms and signs are the same as those of peripheral space tumors.

The most common and earliest sign of orbital meningioma is exophthalmos, which occurs in more than 95% of cases, especially in those tumors that penetrate the meninges early and grow toward the side of the optic nerve or around the optic nerve, as well as those tumors originating outside the optic nerve sheath. Exophthalmos is the first sign that attracts the patient's attention. The direction of eyeball protrusion generally develops forward along the eye axis. Tumors originating from the periosteum of the greater wing of the sphenoid bone often cause the eyeball to shift inward and downward. The degree of protrusion of the eyeballs varies greatly from person to person. The tumor originates from the optic nerve sheath in the optic canal, or develops along the sheath. The eyeball protrudes less and may even spread into the skull. The protrusion of the two eyes differs by only 2 to 3 mm. The tumor occurs in the orbit and grows in a mass-like manner. The eyeball protrudes significantly, and the difference between the two sides can reach more than 20mm. In severe cases, the eyeball protrudes out of the palpebral fissure.

Severe vision loss is also one of the earliest symptoms. Among the patients diagnosed for the first time, more than 50% had a visual acuity below 0.1. Vision loss is related to the primary site of the tumor. Occurring within the optic canal, decreased vision and visual field loss are often the only early symptoms. Only a few patients have headaches, and there is no exophthalmos for a long time. It is often misdiagnosed as retrobulbar neuritis in the early stages. Meningiomas develop along the optic nerve sheath and have a tubular appearance. Due to compression of the optic nerve fibers, they cause atrophy and early vision loss, but proptosis of the eyeball is not obvious. Only those meningiomas that penetrate the optic nerve dura mater in the early stage, develop to one side, or originate outside the optic nerve sheath will cause vision loss in the late stage. Tubular meningioma causes constriction of the visual field in the early stages, and those occurring at the orbital apex may cause dark spots in the visual field.