[Four cases of cerebral venous angioma--with special reference to its surgical indication and CT diagnosis].

Four cases of venous angioma, one cerebral and three in the cerebellum, are reported. Case 1. A 50-year-old woman who had a sudden attack of headache and disorientation was admitted to the Mitsui Memorial Hospital. Neurological examination revealed slight disorientation, mild motor aphasis and right hemiparesis. Plain CT scan on admission showed a left frontal hematoma. Left cerebral angiomas demonstrated a caput-Medusae-like lesion which consisted of numerous small veins and drained into one single enlarged vein. Enhanced CT scan taken 12 days after the attack demonstrated a linear enhancement next ot the hematoma. Left frontal craniotomy was performed, and the hematoma was evacuated. In the next step, coagulation and resection of the major part of the angioma was attempted. However, this caused significant swelling of the adjacent brain and the angioma had to be resected totally including intervening normal cerebral tissue. Postoperatively, the patient became worse with significant hemiparesis and severe motor aphasia. After intensive rehabilitation treatment, she recovered gradually and was discharged on foot with moderate speech disturbances. Histological examination revealed a typical venous angioma with hyalinization of vessel wall. Case 2. A 55-year-old woman with a 9 year history of vertigo and headache was admitted to our hospital because of sudden onset of numbness in her right lower limb. Enhanced CT scan revealed a small nodular high density lesion and an old hematoma in the right cerebellar hemisphere. Vertebral angiograms demonstrated a single abnormal vein with some small veins in the right cerebellum. Right suboccipital craniectomy was performed and the blood clot was removed. The abnormal veins were electro-coagulated. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged with no neurological deficit. Case 3. A 31-year-old man was admitted to our department with 9 month history of nausea and vertigo attack. Enhanced CT scan demonstrated a large nodular high density lesion in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Vertebral angiograms showed a typical caput-Medusae-like venous angioma. The patient had no evidence of hemorrhage and was discharged without surgery. Case 4. A 36-year-old man who had two attacks of nausea and headache was admitted to the Mitsui Memorial Hospital. Enhanced CT scan showed a linear high density lesion in the right cerebellar hemisphere. Vertebral angiograms disclosed a typical venous angioma in the right cerebellum. This patient also had no attack of bleeding and was discharged without operation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)