MR Diagnosis of Hemangioblastomas

Objective To analyze MRI features of cerebellar and spinal hemangioblastomas, to provide pathologic information for the selection of surgical plan.Materials and Methods MR scanning was performed in 30 patients (16 males and 14 females, aged 18～64 with a mean of 44.6 years) with pathologically proved cerebellar or spinal hemangioblastomas. Both plain and enhanced scans were done in all patients except one case who received plain scan only.Results Total 33 hemangioblastoma lesions were displayed on MRI. The lesions were located in cerebellum (n=15), vermis (n=6), brain stem (n=4), cerebellopontine angle (n=2), cervical cord (n=5) or thoracic cord (n=1). On plain scans, the tumors was iso signal and was indistinguishable from cyst. On enhanced scans, all tumors showed marked homogeneous enhancement with a clear border.Conclusion MRI, especially enhanced T 1WI, can well demonstrate the hemangioblastomas and is of great value in determining the surgical plan.