Angiomas of the cerebellopontine angle

Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with tearing and conjunctival injection: the first "symptomatic" case?

A 36-year-old man was suffering from brief, unilateral and short-lasting pain attacks always associated with marked homolateral tearing and conjunctival injection, both presenting in a cluster fashion. An arteriovenous malformation was subsequently discovered in the homolateral cerebellopontine angle. The clinical picture shares similarities with both cluster headache and trigeminal neuralgia, although it can not be accurately placed with either of these forms. Patients with similar symptoms have previously been described in detail, and on the basis of these few descriptions a new syndrome "short-lasting" unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection, tearing, sweating, and rhinorrhoea has been postulated. Assuming the validity of this syndrome as an entity, this case is in all probability its first "symptomatic" example. Careful evaluation of the varieties of cluster headache and trigeminal neuralgia, and the reporting of similar new cases as they arise are necessary to establish the nosologic boundaries of this syndrome.

A vascular malformation mimicking an intracanalicular acoustic neurilemoma. Case report

A patient with an enhancing, completely intracanalicular mass on magnetic resonance imaging was operated on for a presumed acoustic neurilemoma, but was found at surgery to have an intracanalicular vascular malformation. This rare lesion should be distinguished from angiomatous change within an acoustic neurilemoma and in the past has been termed "vascular tumor," "hemangioma," or "fibro-angioma." The clinical distinctions between intracanalicular acoustic neurilemomas and intracanalicular vascular malformations and the ability of magnetic resonance imaging to distinguish between the two are discussed.

Arteriovenous malformation in the cerebellopontine angle presenting as trigeminal neuralgia

A case of arteriovenous malformation of the left cerebellopontine angle causing symptoms of ipsilateral trigeminal neuralgia is reported. Pain relief followed microsurgical removal of the malformation. The authors review the literature on the subject.

Angioma of the cerebellopontine cistern simulating acoustic neurinomas

We report a cryptic angioma associated with a cisternal hematoma confined to the cerebellopontine cistern occurring in a 29-year-old woman. The angioma was related to the acoustic nerve. The cisternal hematoma appeared to have increased in size gradually with repeated hemorrhages from the angioma. The location of the lesion, in conjunction with the gradual size increase of the cisternal hematoma, resulted in the lesion simulating acoustic neurinomas radiologically as well as neurologically.