Surgical treatment of elderly patients with primary osteolytic atypical meningioma: a case report and review of the literature

Background: Elderly patients with primary intracranial osteolytic and externally growing atypical meningiomas are rare and easy to be misdiagnosed. Recently, a patient with an atypical meningioma was treated in our department and analyzed the case by reviewing the historical literature.Case presentation: We describe a 63-year-old female with primary intracranial osteolytic atypical meningioma at our neurosurgery department, and retrospectively reviewed previous literatures about its diagnosis, surgical treatment, pathological results, and clinical outcome. Simpson grade I resection was accomplished through a pterional approach. First-stage skull reconstruction was performed, and the patient underwent an uneventful recovery.Conclusions: The final diagnosis of the primary osteolytic atypical meningioma is dependent on a pathological examination. First-stage skull reconstruction could avoid a secondary lesion and improve the patient’s quality of life.