Atypical (WHO grade II) meningiomas are characterized histologically by 1):
4 to 19 mitoses per ten high-power fields 3 or more of the following 5 histologic features: necrosis sheet-like growth small cell change increased cellularity prominent nucleoli direct invasion of brain parenchyma It is important to note when reading older literature, that it is only since the WHO 2007 classification, that infiltration into brain parenchyma of an otherwise “benign” grade I tumor was sufficient to designate it a grade II tumor. As such, the incidence of grade II tumors increased to ~30% 2).