Successful surgical removal of an asymptomatic optic nerve hemangioblastoma in von Hippel-Lindau disease.

An asymptomatic patient with a family history of von Hippel-Lindau disease carried the abnormal gene for this disease. An imaging survey that consisted of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebral angiography revealed an optic nerve hemangioblastoma. The potential for visual loss in the future was the indication for microsurgical intervention. This was the first asymptomatic optic nerve hemangioblastoma to be imaged and the first to be successfully removed without any permanent neurological deficits or vision loss.