Surgical treatment of intracranial meningiomas in Nouakchott, Mauritania

Meningiomas are frequently encountered tumours in neurosurgery. However, there is a paucity of data concerning their epidemiology, their clinical characteristics and their treatment compared to gliomas. This study aims to identify the epidemiological profile and to assess the quality of treatment of intracranial meningiomas (ICM) at the National Hospital Center in Nouakchott, Mauritania. We conducted a retrospective study of patients who had undergone surgery for the treatment of ICM between September 2013 and September 2016. Thirty-two patients had undergone surgery for the treatment of ICM (26.6%). The average age was 45.12 (± 13.8 years) among whom 75% were women. The average length of stay in hospital had been 13 days (± 7 days). The mean time between symptom onset and diagnosis had been 10 months (±5months). The mean size of ICM had been 5.07cm (±2.00cm) ranging from 2.5cm to 10.5cm. Complementary MRI had been performed in 46.8% of patients after brain CT scan. In our series, 38% of ICM had grown on brain convexity. The mean surgical time had been 23.91 days (±17days). The quality grade of surgical resection assigned according to Simpson score was Grade I (66%), Grade II (19%), Grade III (6%), Grade IV (9%). The histological grade assigned according to the 2007 WHO classification was Grade I (93%), Grade II-III (7%). The overall operative mortality was (n=3, 9.4%). The development of technical equipment in the department of neurosurgery, radiology and of equipment in anesthesia and intensive care will contribute to improve outcomes and to reduce mortality rates.