Meckel's cave mass

Meckel cave lesions are numerous. The aim of this article is to list them in an easy way for revision and assessment of differential diagnosis.

Neoplastic

Meckel cave tumors account for only 0.5% of all intracranial tumors. The most common histologies are:

• trigeminal schwannoma: most common, ~33% of cases
• meningioma
• pituitary macroadenoma
• base of skull tumors
• metastases: including retrograde spread of head and neck tumors
• neurolymphomatosis
• epidermoid cyst
• lipoma

Non-neoplastic

These need to be distinguished from Meckel cave tumors:

• internal carotid artery aneurysms/vascular malformation
• petrous apex cephalocele

Siehe auch:

• Cavum trigeminale
• trigeminal nerve schwannoma in Meckel's cave

und weiter:

• neurinoma of the trigeminal nerve
• metastatic involvement of Meckel's cave