[Hemangioblastoma of the spinal cord. A case with a probably single lesion (author's transl)]

A 43 year-old woman was admitted after 2 years of progressive disturbances of deep sensation mainly in her lower limbs. Examination led to the diagnosis of a tumor of the cervical spinal cord. The tumor--partially cystic--was attached to the posterior third of the spinal cord. At its level several varicosities of the pia were present accounting for the myelographic picture as well as for the albumino-cytologic dissociation in the CSF. Pathological examination showed a hemangioblastoma. After a review of the literature, this case of hemangioblastoma of the spinal cord appears to have special features because of its likely single location in the spinal cord in a patient without any familial history of phacomatosis or of von Hippel-Lindau's disease. No other lesion could be clinically suspected in the spinal cord. The post-operative evolution was satisfactory.