Symptomatic vertebral haemangioma: endovascular treatment of 12 patients.

Vertebral haemangioma is a well known albeit infrequent cause for thoracic cord compression. While surgery is the treatment of choice in patients with neural compression syndromes, embolization of the feeding arterial pedicles is less frequently practiced. Twelve patients with vertebral haemangiomas and neural compression underwent particulate embolization of the feeder arteries. Eleven patients had a subsequent decompressive laminectomy. At 8 months of follow-up after radiotherapy, eleven patients had improved and in one patient, the clinical deficits were unchanged. Immediate pre-operative particulate embolization is to be considered in patients with a symptomatic spinal haemangioma.