A long-stable brain tumor changed fast on a scan
Original title: Acute ring-enhancing change in a previously solidly enhancing meningioma.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was tested in people. That is the most reliable kind of research we share.
This is a report about one patient, not a test of a treatment.
The short version
A woman's slow-growing brain tumor changed suddenly, and doctors found the reason.
What was studied. Doctors report on one woman with meningiomas in the right front of her brain. She had been watched with scans for almost a decade, and her scans had looked stable.
What they found. Six weeks after her last routine scan, she had new symptoms. At age 72, she had shaking and weakness on her left side, plus a mild headache. The new scan showed her largest tumor now had a ring shape, with swelling and pressure around it. Her other tumors looked unchanged. After surgery, tests showed the middle of the tumor had died from a loss of blood flow. It was still a benign, slow-growing type.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: A tumor that has looked the same for years can still change. New symptoms are worth a call to your care team, even soon after a normal scan. Here a steroid medicine helped her symptoms a little, and surgery removed the tumor.
What it doesn't mean: This is one person's story, not a study of many people. It does not mean this will happen to you. Most meningiomas stay slow and stable. This is not a new treatment, and it is not a cure.
Source: PubMed, October 7, 2026 · Read the original
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