The authors have retrospectively reviewed all tumors of central nervous system (CNS) operated at the most important neurosurgery hospitals of Curitiba in a 5-year period (1990-1994) and found 304 (22.4%) cases of meningioma. Age mean of the patients was 48.5 years, with a range of 3 to 90 years. A marked female preponderance (68.7%) was noted. The most common tumor location was brain (n = 280) and the remaining cases occurred in spinal cord (n = 10), cerebellum (n = 9) and cranial nerves (n = 5). Histologically, there were 294 (96.7%) meningiomas of the classical type, six malignant or anaplastic, three atypical and one papillary. Two hundred and sixty seven classical meningiomas were from the meningotelial subtype, ten psamomatousos, five fibroblastic, five microcystic, five transicional and two angiomatous. The authors conclude that meningiomas are one of the most common group of primary neoplasias of CNS and the definition of malignancy in those tumors is beset by frequent discordance between histologic and biologic features.