Intramedullary hemangioblastoma: Microsurgical resection technique

Spinal hemangioblastomas are benign and highly vascular tumors accounting for 1-5% of intramedullary spinal tumors in surgical series. Surgery is curative in sporadic cases. We present the description of a surgical technique to safely resect an intramedullary hemangioblastoma. A dorsal midline myelotomy provides an excellent exposure of the tumor and identification of the feeding arteries. Interruption of these arteries and precise dissection of the tumor from the cord tissue followed by division of the venous drainage allow the in toto excision of the tumor. Closure of the dorsal myelotomy may be achieved with sequential fusion of the pial and arachnoid edges using a "welding" technique.