Differences in surgical outcome between petroclival meningioma and anterior petrous meningioma

Background Petroclival meningiomas (PC MNGs) and anterior petrous meningiomas (AP MNGs) have similar locations. However, these are different tumors clearly divided by the trigeminal nerve. There has never been a study on the comparison of the surgical outcomes of these two meningiomas. In this study, we compared and analyzed the surgical outcome of PC MNGs and AP MNGs. Methods The charts of 85 patients diagnosed with PC MNGs of AP MNGs who underwent surgical treatment were retrospectively reviewed. And we analyzed the characteristics of 49 PC MNGs (57.6%) and compared them with those of 36 AP MNGs. Results Preoperative brainstem edema was observed in 11 patients (22.4%) of the PC MNG group and 1 patient (2.8%) of the AP MNG group ( p = 0.024). Total tumor removal was achieved in 21 patients (58.3%) of the AP MNG group, but only 17 patients (34.7%) of the PC MNG group were able to completely ( p = 0.047). In addition, sixth cranial nerve palsy occurred in 17 patients (34.7%) of the PC MNG group and 4 patients (11.1%) of the AP MNG group ( p = 0.025). Conclusions In this study, we found that PC MNGs has a worse surgical outcome than AP MNGs, because PC MNGs were difficult to completely remove and were more likely to damage abducens nerve.