Walsh & Hoyt: Cytogenetics

The desire to differentiate benign from malignant meningiomas and to predict which tumors have a greater propensity to recur has prompted new methods of tumor analysis. The bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) labeling index can be used to predict aggressive tumor behavior. Hoshino et al. applied these techniques and were able to demonstrate that the meningiomas in six of nine patients with a BUdR index greater than 1% were more aggressive and likely to recur. All meningiomas with a BUdR index higher than 5% recurred. Using a different approach, Chin and Hinton identified a significant difference between the number of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (Ag NOR) in benign, atypical, and malignant meningiomas and were able to identify tumors with a greater likelihood for recurrence.