Sphenoid wing en plaque meningioma development following craniopharyngioma surgery and radiotherapy: Radiation-induced after three decades

Radiation therapy is widely used as adjuvant or primary treatment modality of neoplastic lesions. Radiation therapy may cause an acute adverse effect such as brain edema, radiation necrosis, or delayed, for example, panhypopituitarism, vasculitis, and rare de-novo neoplasm development. However, radiation-induced meningioma (RIM) occurrence is extremely rare. A detailed PubMed and Medline search yielded only three isolated Case-reports of RIM development in craniopharyngioma cases receiving radiotherapy after surgery. All cases occurred in patients < 13-year age, with male preponderance, detected after a mean interval of 23-year, the range being 2–44 years. Two had solitary while the third had multiple meningiomas. Authors report an 8-year-old female, who was operated for craniopharyngioma and received adjuvant therapy, was asymptomatic for next 30 years, met a road traffic accident and magnetic resonance imaging brain revealed incidental right sphenoid wing en plaque meningioma. She was planned for gamma-knife therapy as unwilling for surgical intervention. Management of RIM development after radiotherapy of craniopharyngioma along with pertinent literature is reviewed briefly.