PEDIATRIC INTRACRANIAL HEMANGIOENDOTHELIOMAS - CASE-REPORT

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Intracranial hemangioendotheliomas are rare lesions, especially in the pediatric age group. Recognizing hemangioen dotheliomas as a differential in intracranial tumors of vascular origi n is important; complete excision results in a cure, and medical thera py for those lesions that are not resectable produces long-term surviv al. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: We report two patients, a 7-year-old female patient with a lesion in the right gasserian ganglion and a 3-month-o ld male patient with a cervicomedullary junction tumor. INTERVENTION: The 7-year-old underwent a gross total removal with no recurrence. The 3-month-old underwent a partial resection followed by treatment with interferon alpha-2a, with a decrease in the size of the residual tumor . Both patients have been followed for more than 4 years without a rec urrence or progression of the tumor. CONCLUSION: Hemangioendotheliomas are fairly indolent tumors and may be treated with complete surgical resection, resulting in a cure. In cases in which complete tumor remov al is not possible, adjunctive therapy with interferon alpha-2a may co ntrol residual tumor growth.