Primary optic nerve meningiomas: clinical presentation and management.

Fifteen patients with meningiomas arising from the optic nerve sheath within the orbit occurred in a large series of patients with orbital tumors. Eleven patients were women; there was only one child. Thirteen patients had a similar clinical appearance. In each case visual loss was the first symptom. Proptosis, which occurred in only ten patients, developed later (the time interval was three months to five years). Optic disc edema or atrophy was present in all 15 patients, some of whom had optociliary shunt vessels on the optic disc. The new fine-matrix EMI scanner (320x320) demonstrated the tumors but even clearer pictures of the lesion could be obtained using a c-mode ultrasonic scanner. The treatment of these meningiomas is essentially surgical.