HEMANGIOMA OF VERTEBRAE

¹ Section on Orthopaedic Surgery and the Section on Neurosurgery, The Mayo Clinic, Rochester

Evidence points toward vertebral hemangioma as a definitely recognizable condition which often does not cause symptoms. However, the symptoms of some patients, particularly the younger ones, may be marked, even to development of complete paraplegia. In such cases laminectomy with decompression, followed by roentgenotherapy, offers the best possibility of relief. In patients in whom paraplegia is not present but in whom there is evidence of compression of the spinal cord or local symptoms, roentgenotherapy is the treatment of choice. Supportive corsets or braces should be used whenever they are indicated,—for instance, with patients who have the static type of pain or sufficient involvement of the vertebra by the hemangioma to cause a pathological compression fracture. This latter complication, however, is rarely noted.

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