Intraosseous hemangioma of the clivus: a case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Intraosseous hemangiomas are benign vascular tumors that are encountered most commonly in vertebrae and rarely in the skull. When presenting in the skull, they are commonly found in the calvarium in frontal and parietal bones and seldom in the skull base. We encountered a patient with an incidental finding on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of an enhancing lesion in the clivus. Here we report an unusual location of a clival intraosseous hemangioma. A 62 year old man worked up for carpal tunnel syndrome had imaging of his cervical spine that revealed an enhancing clival lesion, which extended into the left occipital condyle. Endoscopic endonasal biopsy was performed on the abnormality revealing a capillary hemangioma. Patient tolerated the biopsy well and no further surgical intervention is indicated at this time. Patient will be followed at six month intervals. Primary intraosseus hemangiomas of the skull are extremely rare and usually occur in the calvarium. This is one of the few reported case of an intraosseus hemangioma in the clivus. We present this case in part because it is unusual, but more importantly, with the wider use of MRI, it is likely that these lesions will be discovered more frequently, and conceivably confused for more dangerous lesions.