Pre-operative endovascular embolization of a cerebellar haemangioblastoma. A case report.

OBJECTIVE To present an interesting case of pre-operative embolization of a cerebellar haemangioblastoma. CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND INTERVENTION A 36-year-old male presented with gradual, progressive headache and a positive family history of von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. MRI of the brain revealed a right cerebellar solid mass and cerebral angiography demonstrated its extensive hypervascular nature. The mass was embolized with polyvinyl alcohol prior to surgical resection, which resulted in improvement of the patient's symptoms. CONCLUSION Pre-operative embolization of a haemangioblastoma is a useful procedure that can potentially decrease the morbidity and mortality of its surgical resection.