[Spinal epidural cavernous hemangioma. Case report].

Spinal epidural cavernous hemangiomas are very rare; only 18 cases have been reported in the literature. The authors describe the case of a 38-year-old male whose first symptom was numbness of the foot, which, after 2 years, spread to the abdomen. On admission, he had no weakness but exhibited hyper-reflex of the lower limbs and hypalgesia below the 7th thoracic dermatome. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an extradural tumor at the level of the 7th thoracic vertebra, with erosion of the 7th vertebral body. T1-weighted images were obtained by inversion recovery with a repetition time (TR) of 2100 msec, an inversion time of 600 msec, and an echo time (TE) of 40 msec. T2-weighted images were obtained by a spin echo pulse sequence with a TR of 2000 msec and a TE of 120 msec. Compared with the spinal cord, the tumor showed low intensity on T1-weighted images and high intensity on T2-weighted images. The tumor was removed through a laminectomy. The histological diagnosis was cavernous hemangioma. After surgery, the patient's symptoms and signs improved. This is the first report of a spinal epidural cavernous hemangioma that includes MRI findings. It appears difficult to differentiate cavernous angiomas from neurinomas by MRI.