Presentation of a Hemangioblastoma in cavernous sinus: An extremely rare case report.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Hemangioblastoma (HB) is a benign vascular tumor that accounts for about 2% of intracranial neoplasms. HB of the cavernous sinus (CS) is extremely rare. Only one report was found in the literature. PRESENTATION OF CASE We present a 29-year-old female with progressive headache and she had right ptosis and right mild oculomotor nerve palsy. The brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) revealed a right extra-axial 4 × 4 cm in right CS position. The patient was operated upon microscopically via sub-temporal approach through a right temporal craniotomy. After the subtotal removal of a highly vascular tumor, the patient was referred for adjuvant therapy with Gamma-knife surgery. DISCUSSION: Surgical removal of HB is the most effective treatment of the central nervous system (CNS) HBs. Tumors invading the CS could cause severe bleeding during surgery and HB-because of its vascular origin-had more risk for severe intraoperative bleeding, and in some cases resulted in surgery stop with subtotal resection of tumor. CONCLUSION: It was recommended to perform a pre-operative brain angiography and selective embolization of these highly vascular lesions that it could result in subsequent complete surgical removal.