Meningioma tumor treatment at UW Medicine

Whether you're newly diagnosed with a meningioma, or your tumor has returned after previous treatment, our team can help. We have experience treating all types of meningiomas and offer a full range of treatment options.

If your tumor isn't cancerous — but it's causing symptoms — you'll likely need radiation or surgery (or both). These treatments can safely and effectively shrink or remove your tumor. If your meningioma is cancerous, you may need chemotherapy in addition to radiation and surgery. Although it's frightening to face any type of cancer, you can take comfort in knowing your care team will include experts from the renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

Radiation therapy

• We offer Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery, an advanced treatment that sends many high-dose beams of radiation to your tumor at once.
• For patients who are not candidates for radiosurgery, we offer proton beam radiation, an advanced radiation treatment that precisely targets tumors. Proton therapy is less toxic to the surrounding brain, blood vessels and cranial nerves than standard photon radiation, preserving cognitive functions such as memory and language function.
• We can also perform brachytherapy, where we place tiny radioactive seeds next to your tumor.

Surgery

Our neurosurgeons utilize minimally invasive and endoscopic procedures to remove a tumor from the most difficult locations. The amount of tumor we can remove depends on its location and whether it's connected to vital brain tissue. If we can't remove the entire tumor, radiation therapy can help destroy what's left after

Chemotherapy

If your meningioma is cancerous, we also offer personalized targeted therapies and access to clinical trials for novel treatment of aggressive meningiomas. This may include a type of chemotherapy called Avastin® (bevacizumab).