[Multiple meningiomas and neurofibromatosis. Report of 3 cases].

Multiple intracranial meningiomas (MIM) may be a specific pathological entity. In general these lesions are associated with neurofibromatosis. The classical clinical picture of neurofibromatosis, as described by von Recklinghausen, may not necessarily be associated with MIM. This possibility is a direct result of the variable penetrability of chromosomic aberrations connected with the chromosome 22. Molecular studies of these tumors confirmed this finding. In our series of 108 patients with intracranial meningiomas only three cases were multiple. In only one of them external stigmata of von Recklinghausen's disease were detected. In the absence of skin manifestations of neurofibromatosis in patients with MIM it is very difficult to diagnosis von Recklinghausen's disease, and the so called "true multiple meningiomas". The authors believe that there are no justificative findings to consider MIM as an independent pathological entity.