Radical surgery on cavernous angioma of the brainstem

Four cases of cavernous angioma of the brainstem are reported. Three patients had angiomas of the pons; one had a lesion extending from the third ventricle to the hypothalamus. In the three patients directly operated upon the entire lesion was excised. The lesions were delimited by reactive scar tissue, so that by means of a careful technique severe associated disorders were avoided postoperatively. The importance of computed tomography for postoperative observation and the effectiveness of nuclear magnetic resonance-computed tomography have been demonstrated. It is thought that henceforth surgical treatment of brainstem lesions will be found appropriate in a far greater number of cases.