A meningioma is a usually benign neoplasm of the dura mater. The dura mater is one of the meninges that surround, protect and nourish the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). The symptoms they produce result from the pressure they apply to surrounding brain tissue - boxed up inside the skull, the brain is very sensitive to pressure because it has nowhere to go. Treatment of choice is resection if the tumor is surgically accessible, and radiation therapy otherwise or in the rare event the tumor has progressed to malignancy. Surgical resection usually grants the patient a complete cure, although there is evidence that particular genetic defects correlate with an increased frequency of this type of neoplasm.