MENINGIOMAS ATTACHED TO THE MESIAL PART OF THE SPHENOID RIDGE

Abstract

Our object in this paper is to call attention to a characteristic symptom complex of small meningeal growths which arise from the most mesial part of the sphenoid ridge. These growths lie in close proximity to one optic nerve, and for a considerable period they produce disturbances due solely to pressure on the nerve near the optic foramen. The syndrome of primary atrophy of the optic nerve with bitemporal defects of the visual fields and progressive diminution of vision is characteristic of tumors which compress the optic chiasm and nerves and is often the first and, for a long time, the only clinical evidence of a midline growth underneath the frontal lobes of the brain. The combination of primary atrophy of the optic nerve, bitemporal defects of the visual fields and changes in the sella turcica was formerly believed to be characteristic solely of tumors of the