Meningioma and psychiatric symptoms: An individual patient data analysis

Abstract

Meningioma is a slow-growing benign tumor arising from meninges and is usually asymptomatic. Though neuropsychiatric symptoms are common in patients with brain tumors, they often can be the only manifestation in cases of meningioma. Meningiomas might present with mood symptoms, psychosis, memory disturbances, personality changes, anxiety, or anorexia nervosa. The diagnosis of meningioma could be delayed where only psychiatric symptoms are seen. A comprehensive review of the literature and individual patient data analysis was conducted, which included all case reports, and case series on meningioma and psychiatric symptoms till September 2018 with the search terms “meningioma” and “psychiatric symptoms/ depression/ bipolar disorder/mania/ psychosis/ obsessive-compulsive disorder”. Search engines used included PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane database and Google Scholar. Studies reported varied psychiatric symptoms in cases with meningioma of differing tumor site, size and lateralization. Factors which led to a neuroimaging work-up included the occurrence of sudden new or atypical psychiatric symptoms, a lack of response to typical line of treatment and the presence of neurological signs or symptoms such as headache, seizures, diplopia, urinary incontinence etc. This review emphasizes on the need of neurological examination and neuroimaging in the patients presenting to psychiatry especially with atypical symptoms.