Primary intraosseous meningioma in a skull of the medieval period of Southwestern Germany

Abstract

Abstract Primary intraosseous calvarial meningiomas are very rare entities in recent times. We present the first case in antiquity of a primary intraosseous meningioma in the frontoparietal bone associated with the coronal suture, and discuss its pathology. The skull derives from southwestern Germany and is dated to the 12th–14th centuries AD. The lesion is interpreted as a solitary osteoblastic neoplasm with hyperostosis on the outside, and osteolysis and radial spiculation in the central part of the lesion with an area of irregularity along the inner table. In cases of solitary osteoblastic skull lesions the differential diagnosis comprises: fibrous dysplasia, osteoma, osteoblastic metastasis, Pagets disease and meningioma with sheet‐like growth along the dural surface with marked hyperostosis (called meningioma en plaque). We believe that a differentiation between hyperostotic meningioma en plaque and intraosseous meningioma cannot be made in skulls from antiquity. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.