Ординатура / Офтальмология / Английские материалы / Primary Optic Nerve Sheath Meningioma_Jeremic, Pitz_2008

DEDICAtION

To my wife Aleksandra and my daughter Marta, for their endless encouragement and support during this project and throughout my career.

B. Jeremić

978-3-540-77557-7_FRO NtM At tE R_2008-08-06_1

Foreword

Optic nerve sheath meningiomas represent a rare tumor about which very little has been published in the literature over the last 50 years. Therefore, there remains a major lack of information relating to the disease process and how best to treat such tumors. These tumors can arise intraorbitally, intracanalicularly, or intracranially. In general, they proceed by local continuous extension along the optic canal into the orbit or into the base of the brain.

This book — put together by Professor Branislav Jeremić and Professor Susanne Pitz — covers all the important aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of this disease process. The authors represent experts in the field relative to this disease process and their recommendations relative to general considerations, clinical presentation, the necessary clinical examinations, and tech-

patients can be treated adequately and appropriatelyPROOFSwith the newest technologies in radiation

niques for diagnosis with imaging and histology are very appropriately and properly presented.

From these data, treatment options can be developed that allow for surgical intervention or external beam radiation therapy or stereotactic fractionated radiation therapy using the newest of

technologies available in radiation oncology.

Aggressive intervention and appropriate proper treatment are associated with good results relative to management, and emerging from these discussions is the fact that the majority of

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Preface

As an extremely rare and benign disease with virtually no lethal outcomes, optic nerve sheath meningioma has traditionally been treated worldwide with different approaches, and without a consensus on both how to diagnose and treat it. With only occasional reports in the literature, and with those reports being predominantly single-institutional experiences with few anecdotal cases discussed, optic nerve sheath meningioma remains on the fringes of oncological “happenings” and is rarely covered by the media.

Why then write a book about it?

Because time has come to begin a new chapter in this story. Many years have been spent improving our clinical understanding of the disease, our ability to diagnose it better and the treatments available to patients. These developments have led to a shift in treatment towards non-surgical options, primarily radiotherapy. With the safer and more precise use of CT and/or MRI, and the development of computer-driven treatment planning and execution, radiotherapy has become capable of delivering adequate doses to the tumor with minimal surrounding/safety margins, which

ing this disease, and have made substantial contributions to the field in recent decades. With their work and dedication, we have been able to create a book that presents the current state of the art in the fielduof diagnosis and treatment of optic nerve sheath meningioma, and the effort should lead to a more optimized and individualized approach in patients with this disease.

We would like to thank all of our former and current colleagues with whom we have collaborated during the past decade. Their tireless efforts and dedication to the cause has made our professional lives more interesting and rewarding.

We would also like to express our thanks to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, for its continuous support of B. Jeremić since 1998. Special thanks to Ms. Ursula Davis and Ms. Anne Strohbach for their kind, patient, flexible and effective management during the preparation of this book. Without them, the book would not have been possible.

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Contents

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XII Contents

978-3-540-77557-7_FRO NtM At tE R_2008-08-06_1

Problem Definition, Incidence

Branislav Jeremić and Susanne Pitz

C o n t e n t s

Introduction

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