OBJECTIVE: Pediatric meningioma is a rare diagnosis. This retrospective review seeks to elucidate pertinent characteristics of pediatric patients presenting with meningioma. METHODS: The Seattle Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center brain tumor database was surveyed from 1940 through 2004. Twenty patients were identified. RESULTS: The median age of the 20 patients was 13 years. Five patients had radiation-induced meningiomas. Five patients had neurofibromatosis type 2. Ten patients had spontaneously arising meningiomas, 2 of which were malignant. CONCLUSION: Patients with spontaneously arising meningiomas were younger than those with identified risk factors. There was no recurrence in patients with radiation-induced meningiomas. The only death occurred in a patient with a malignant meningioma. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.