[The classical clinical and neuroimaging features of meningiomas are mimicked by other intracranial, supratentorial expansive lesions].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the surgical neurology cases in which both the clinical and neuroimaging features suggested supratentorial meningioma, and resulted in different entities from the neuropathological point of view. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The clinical histories of patients harboring intracranial, supratentorial mass lesions diagnosed as meningioma operated in different hospitals of Maracaibo, Venezuela, during the period 1993-1997 were reviewed. RESULTS: Our analysis revealed 15 cases with different neuropathological diagnosis. They were distributed as follows: three cases of hemangiopericytoma, two cases each of anaplastic ependymoma, metastatic carcinoma, and solitary intracranial plasmacytoma, and one case each of plasma cell granuloma, pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma, chondroma, actinomycetoma, meningeal fibroma and chronic inflammation not otherwise specified. CONCLUSION: A heterogeneous group of intracranial, supratentorial expansive mass lesions can masquerade as meningiomas both from the clinical and neuroimaging points of view.