• Julio Urrutia, Roberto Postigo, Roberto Larrondo, and Aliro San Martin.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Marcoleta 352, Santiago, Chile. jurrutia@med.puc.cl
• J Clin Neurosci. 2011 Feb 1; 18 (2): 209-12.

AbstractVertebral hemangiomas (VHs) are frequently asymptomatic lesions found incidentally during investigations for other spinal problems. Symptomatic VHs are less common, and there are few reports of compressive VHs in the literature. VHs with aggressive behavior present with low signal intensity on T1-weighted and high signal intensity on T2-weighted MRI. We present a case series of four patients with compressive VH, all of whom were neurologically compromised. Each of the four patients underwent preoperative arterial embolization followed by surgical treatment of their VHs. All patients recovered normal motor function after surgery. At follow-up (average 53 months), one patient had a recurrent tumor requiring reoperation and radiotherapy. Although it is rare, aggressive VH can be a devastating condition. Total surgical resection or subtotal resection with radiotherapy may be warranted.Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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