Hemangioblastoma of the Cerebellopontine Angle

Surgical treatment of solid hemangioblastomas of the posterior fossa: A report of 28 cases

“…Clinically, about two-thirds appear as well-circumscribed cystic masses with hypervascular mural nodules (9). Although there are no histological differences between the cystic and solid tumor subtypes (2), solid hemangioblastomas have an increased risk of excessive intraoperative bleeding and postoperative complications (10).…”

“…Although 6–10% of all intracranial tumors are found in the CPA, the majority are vestibular schwannomas and meningiomas (9,11). Because of differences in the surgical strategies, differential diagnosis is crucial for safe tumor management.…”

“…Hemangioblastomas generally have an intra-axial origin and are rarely found in the CPA (13). To our knowledge, a very small number of patients with large hemangioblastoma in the CPA have been reported, and, of those, only 10 cases were presented in English literature (2,7,9). One large tumor in the CPA was observed in one of the patients in the present study.…”

“…This approach provided visual access that was wide enough to permit early control of proximal feeding vessels and to allow a safe circumferential dissection of the lesion (11). For cystic hemangioblastomas in the CPA, Bush et al (9) removed the tumor via a translabyrinthine approach, as they first mistook it for an atypical cystic vestibular schwannoma. They suggested that, had an hemangioblastoma been considered, the suboccipital approach might have provided adequate exposure and potentially preserved the hearing of the patient (9).…”

Nonschwannoma Tumors of the Cerebellopontine Angle

“…7), making definitive preoperative diagnosis difficult. 40 When seen, characteristic vascular flow voids may help in making this distinction. Preoperative embolization may be used to facilitate tumor dissection.…”