How Important Is to Know the Psychosocial Performance in an Operated Child of Meningioma? Devil Is in the Details

BACKGROUND: Meningioma constitutes only 0.4%–4.1% of all the pediatric tumors. This article aims to find the impact of the pediatric meningioma surgery on the developmental and scholastic performance among these children over long-term follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a retrospective analysis of all the histopathological proven pediatric meningioma and a cross-sectional analysis to study the functional outcome, using Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian children (MISIC); scholastic performance was assessed from behavioral checklist for screening the learning disabled (BCSLD) and subjective self-filled questionnaire to know parent satisfaction. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients (mean age 14.52 ± 0.722 years) (M:F = 16:12) were analyzed (6 [21.4%] were grade-schooler and 22 [78.5%] were teenage), with most common symptom being headache (n = 20, 71.4%) and mean duration of symptoms was 11.19 ± 16.25 days. The mean intelligent quotient (IQ) of grade-schooler was 83.4 ± 9.072 compared to 75.69 ± 9.903 among teenage group. The BCSLD analyses showed that the postoperative score was poorer. Similarly, an average change in BCSLD was observed among the patients with complications (10) compared to the patients without complication (8). CONCLUSION: The discontinuation in schooling or lack of alternative education may lead to poor MISIC scores, wrongly categorizing the children in poor IQ group. In pediatric benign disease such as meningioma, the holistic approach should be opted from the time of first visit to neurological care team.