see also Anaplastic meningioma treatment.
From the available data, surgical resection followed by RT and salvage therapy can lead to extended survival 1).
For a systematic review, studies analyzing the effectiveness of adjuvant radiotherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery in grade 3 (gr. 3) meningioma were reviewed. Thirty studies met the inclusion criteria for qualitative synthesis, and 6 studies were assessed in quantitative analysis. In quantitative analysis, the weighted average of hazard ratios for adjuvant RT in univariate analyses of overall survival (OS) was 0.55 (CI: 0.41; 0.69). The median 5-year OS after adjuvant RT in gr. 3 meningiomas were 56.3%, and the median OS ranged from 24 to 80 months for patients treated with adjuvant RT versus 13 to 41.2 months in patients not treated. For stereotactic radiosurgery, the 3-year progression-free survival was 0% in one study and 57% in another. The 2-year OS ranged from 25 to 75% in 2 studies. The quality of evidence was rated as “very low” in 14 studies analyzed, and considerable allocation bias was detected. Treatment toxicity was reported in 47% of the studies. The severity, according to the CTCAE, ranged from grades I-V and 5.3 to 100% of patients experiencing complications. Adjuvant RT is usually considered the standard of care for WHO grade 3 meningiomas, although supporting evidence was of low quality. Better evidence from registries and prospective trials can improve the evidence base for adjuvant fractionated radiotherapy in malignant meningiomas 2).