Doctors divide tumors into risk groups. For most tumors, this classification helps predict how severe the disease course will be and how likely the tumor is to return. In many cases, this prediction remains stable over time: Patients in a low-risk group usually stay in that group. However, with meningiomas, things work differently. Even tumors classified as low-risk can still recur.

Niek Maas, neuropathologist at LUMC and Erasmus MC, explains, “For the past 10 years, we have been asking ourselves whether we can reduce this uncertainty. At present, risk assessment often involves analyzing the tumor’s DNA profile. This requires advanced and expensive techniques. We therefore wanted not only to improve risk assessment, but also to explore whether this could be done in an affordable way, so it can be applied worldwide.”