Stereotactic multiple are radiotherapy. IV--Haemangioblastoma

Our initial experience in the treatment of haemangioblastoma using conventional external beam radiotherapy and stereotactic radiotherapy (radiosurgery), by the linear accelerator method, is reported. Six haemangioblastomas in five patients were treated with a mean follow-up of 40 months (range 14-60). Five haemangioblastomas in four patients were treated with stereotactic radiotherapy, where four showed complete radiological response and the fifth was static. Neurological symptoms and signs improved in those patients. The sixth haemangioblastoma was situated close to the pituitary and optic chiasm, and was treated with conventionally fractionated external beam radiotherapy. The lesion showed partial response. No complications were noted in this patient group. This series complements and extends the relatively sparse published literature demonstrating that radiotherapy is an effective option for treating haemangioblastomas. Radiosurgery often lends itself particularly well to these discrete lesions allowing highly focused treatment. For patients with multiple and metachronous cerebellar haemangioblastomas as part of the von Hipple-Lindau syndrome, the data support a policy of conventionally fractionated external beam radiotherapy to the whole cerebellum of 50-55 Gy followed, after a period of time, by radiosurgery to persisting lesions (patients 3 and 4).