Staged multi-modality treatment approaches for giant cerebellopontine angle hemangioblastomas

Giant hemangioblastomas (HBs) located in the cerebellopontine angle (CPA) present rare, high risk neurosurgical challenges. En bloc resection has been traditionally recommended for HBs, however this approach may pose unacceptable risk with giant tumors. Alternative treatment strategies have not been well described and the relevant literature is scant. This case review includes an illustrative patient with a giant, symptomatic CPA HB. It was felt that the neurovascular and tumor attributes were favorable for a multi-modality treatment strategy rather than circumferential dissection to remove this formidable tumor. A staged approach consisting of preoperative HB devascularization, debulking and piecemeal resection followed by radiosurgery for a small residuum produced an excellent clinical outcome. Variations of this unconventional multi-modality strategy may reduce the perioperative morbidity of carefully selected patients with giant CPA HBs. A thorough literature review is provided.