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Updated: Sep 20, 2026
Comprehensive Endovascular and Open Surgical Management of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations
Published on: October 20, 2017
Dural cavernous angioma: a preoperative diagnostic challenge
Dominic Rosso1, Donald H Lee, Gary G Ferguson
1Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, London Health Sciences Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Background:
Dural cavernous angiomas are uncommon benign vascular malformations which may present intraoperative difficulties in hemostasis when the diagnosis is not suspected preoperatively. Preoperative diagnosis can be difficult when angiomas show atypical features and share imaging characteristics with other entities.
Methods:
A patient presented with a radiographically aggressive lesion, subsequently identified as a dural cavernous angioma. The lesion is reviewed and its clinical, radiographic, and pathological features are compared with other vascular malformations.
Case Report:
A 40-year-old man presented with new onset seizures and an enhancing lesion infiltrating the floor of the right middle cranial fossa. Due to its aggressive radiographic appearance, initial considerations included chondrosarcoma, meningioma or metastasis. Pathological examination, however, revealed the lesion to be a cavernous angioma of dura.
Conclusion:
This uncommon lesion may present a diagnostic challenge with significant intraoperative implications. T2 sequence hyperintensity in a relevant lesion should raise suspicion of an hemangioma. It is important to be aware of this entity and its potential to mimic other entities on radiographic grounds.
