A giant solid cavernous hemangioma mimicking sphenoid wing meningioma in an adolescent: A case report

Central nervous system (CNS) solid cavernous hemangiomas are rare extra-axial anomalies that may sometimes resemble meningiomas. Due to their complex vascular nature, accurate preoperative diagnosis is important to avoid disastrous hemorrhage during operation. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case in an adolescent since all middle cranial fossa hemangioma cases reported in literature are adults in their 40s or 50s and all the pediatric cases are cystic.

We present a case of a 14-year-old girl with headache and dizziness for 3 months. She occasionally experienced nausea and vomiting but denied visual disturbances and loss of smell.

MRI revealed a lesion that extends to the greater wing of the sphenoid bone as well as the pituitary fossa. Our initial diagnosis was a sphenoid wing meningioma but interestingly, histopathology revealed solid cavernous hemangioma.

The residual tumor was completely removed with 2 sessions of Gamma Knife radiotherapy after surgery.

We were confronted with excessive bleeding during surgery so we attained subtotal resection. However, the patient recovered well with no recurrence of the tumor.

Our case shows that space occupying lesions involving the cavernous sinus and sphenoid ridged could be easily misdiagnosed as sphenoid wing meningiomas in children and adolescents and even adults therefore great care must be exercised when confronted with this kind of presentation.