Trigeminal neurinoma revealed by intratumoral hemorrhage following a minor head injury.

A trigeminal neurinoma which produced the signs and symptoms of a localized intratumoral hemorrhage without showing any extratumoral hemorrhage successive to a minor head injury is reported here. A 33-year-old man noticed pain and hypesthesia on the right side of the forehead and double vision on the day following an occipital trauma. A computed tomographic scan demonstrated a large high-density mass in the anterior part of the right cerebellopontine angle. A diagnosis of trigeminal neurinoma was made and the tumor was successfully removed. The largest part of the tumor consisted of a blood clot and necrotic tissue. In this case of minor head injury, the intratumoral hemorrhage was thought to have occurred as a result of obliteration of the lumen followed by recanalization of the meningeal vessels enclosed in the tumor by the growing neurinoma and distal vessel necrosis. Such a case of trigeminal neurinoma which revealed itself through intratumoral hemorrhage following a minor head injury has not been previously reported.