EPITHELIOID HEMANGIOENDOTHELIOMA OF THE LUMBAR VERTEBRAL COLUMN - CASE-REPORT AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

EPITHELIOID HEMANGIOENDOTHELIOMA IS a recently described, rare vasofor mative vascular tumor of variable biological behavior. Its principal s ites of occurrence are soft tissues, liver, lung, and bone. There have been no formal case reports of this tumor occurring in the vertebral column, and there are no reports in the literature of surgical treatme nt for vertebral epithelioid hemangioendothelioma. We present a case o f primary vertebral epithelioid hemangioendothelioma occurring in the L2 vertebral body. Surgical treatment, pathological findings, imaging characteristics, and a review of the literature are presented.