Spontaneous intralesional haemorrhage in dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumours: a series of five cases.

Five patients with dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumour (DNT) showing extensive secondary haemorrhage, a finding not previously associated with these neoplasms, are described. The clinical presentations, neuroimaging findings, and histopathological features of these patients are reviewed. One patient, a previously asymptomatic 12 year old girl, presented with an acute intracerebral haemorrhage into a DNT. A further four young adults with histories of intractable partial and generalised seizures dating from childhood showed significant chronic haemorrhages within DNT, the MRI appearances in one patient giving a false impression of a cavernoma. Histopathology disclosed vascular abnormalities within these tumours which, together with other factors discussed, may have predisposed these tumours to haemorrhage.