In Cushing and Eisenhardt's1 article on meningiomas arising from the tuberculum sellae, figure 70 illustrates schematically four stages in the development of these tumors (fig. 1): I illustrates a presumptive initial stage. II depicts the smallest tumor which the authors had seen, an incidental observation at necropsy in a patient who died from other causes. This tumor was slightly larger than the pituitary body. III and IV illustrate the larger tumors which present the syndrome of primary optic atrophy, bitemporal field defects and a normal sella turcica.
This article is the report of a case of a very small meningioma, about the size of that shown in Cushing's presumptive initial stage I, but flatter and with a larger attachment to the dura over the tuberculum sellae, which was also an incidental observation at postmortem examination.
The patient, a man, aged 47, had suffered for many years from recurrent attacks