Recurring intracranial meningiomas. Morphometrical evaluation of nuclear pleomorphism by S.A.M. (shape analytical morphometry) system.

Meningiomas are the most common neoplasms of the central nervous system and their biological behavior is not always predictable from the histologic appearance of the tumors. The nuclear pleomorphism seems to be one of the most important morphological features in the prediction of recurrence. By using analytical morphometric methods it is possible to quantify nuclear atypias and to obtain parameters describing nuclear contour irregularities and distortions of the figure. Moreover the amount of information obtained from analytical procedure allowed to discriminate, by multivariate discriminant analysis recurrent or no-recurrent meningiomas (5% of error).