Severe brain edema caused by a meningioma obstructing cerebral venous outflow and treated with venous sinus stenting. Case report.

Abstract

Peritumoral edema is a common feature of cerebral meningiomas, but venous outflow obstruction is not normally considered as a cause even when a tumor involves the venous sinuses. The authors describe a patient with a ventricu-loperitoneal shunt in situ, who had undergone several debulking operations and conventional radiotherapy and in whom had developed progressive life-threatening edema from a tentorial meningioma. Radiological studies showed occlusion of the straight sinus and stenosis of the sagittal sinus at the confluence of sinuses. The sagittal sinus was stented, and thereafter the patient made an almost complete symptomatic recovery and returned to work. This case shows that progressive edema in patients with meningioma is not necessarily caused by radiotherapy or tumor enlargement into the brain and that in venous outflow obstruction, addressing the obstructive lesion directly can improve the palliation afforded by a shunt.