Intratumoral hemorrhage due to hemangioblastoma arising from a cervical nerve root--a case report

We describe a case of a 70 year old man suffering from sudden weakness of the left foot. Preoperative neuroimaging examinations showed an oval mass 2 cm in maximal diameter with intratumoral hemorrhage at the seventh cervical vertebra. The mass was supplied by the right lateral thoracocervical artery and was drained to the anterior spinal vein. The intraoperative findings showed the hard reddish tumor was not attached to the pia and the posterior root of the fifth cervical nerve was totally encased by the tumor. A histopathological examination revealed that hemangioblastoma encasing the posterior nerve root totally, so that the tumor was thought to arise from it. Unusual presentation of the neuroimaging examinations is described.