Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of hemangioblastomas in the elderly: An update

Hemangioblastomas are benign tumors, derived from "stromal" cells of unclear origin. While previously thought to be a rare entity in elderly patients, we had previously reported a case series of six elderly patients (aged over 65years at diagnosis) diagnosed with hemangioblastoma in our 12year experience. Here, we report a followup series, describing eight additional cases of hemangioblastomas diagnosed in elderly patients (out of 26 in subjects over age 18). Seven of the eight cases were sporadic, and one case was suspicious for being associated with the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) syndrome. All eight cases had presented with symptoms related to compression, and surgical resection resulted in good clinical outcomes. Combined with our previous report, 14/103 (13.6%) of the hemangioblastomas diagnosed in a 15-year period in a single hospital were present in elderly patients, suggesting that the prevalence in elderly patients of hemangioblastomas is higher than previously expected.