Angiographic features of hypervascular neurinomas of the head and neck

Neurinomas of the head and neck are often hypervascular. The angiograms of 32 patients with neurinomas of the head or neck were reviewed. Twenty-two (68%) of these tumors displayed abnormal tumor vascularity. Complete selective angiography with direct magnification, subtraction technique, and special projections aided in the recognition of tumor vascularity. Although the angioarchitecture in some cases is indistinguishable from that of meningiomas, neurinomas can exhibit distinctive vascular patterns, such as intermixed areas of increased and decreased vascularity or tortuors, irregular tumor vessels.