Symptomatic intrasellar hemangioblastoma in a child treated with subtotal resection and adjuvant radiosurgery. Case report.

The first documented case of a symptomatic intrasellar hemangioblastoma is described, occurring in an 11-year-old girl with stigmata of von Hippel-Lindau disease who presented with headaches, progressive bitemporal hemianopsia, and adenohypophysial dysfunction. A subtotal resection of the lesion was achieved with two separate surgical procedures: a transsphenoidal approach and a subfrontal craniotomy. Subsequent growth of residual tumor was treated with combined conventional radiotherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery. Two years following completion of these adjuvant therapies, no residual tumor was evident on magnetic resonance imaging. Previous experience with hemangioblastoma in this region, as well as the rationale for radiotherapy in the treatment of incompletely resected lesions, is reviewed.