Multiple supratentorial hemangioblastomas

✓ Multiple hemangioblastomas were found above the tentorium in a 62-year-old woman who first had a discrete 2.5 cm tumor removed from the superior aspect of the tentorium adjacent to the falx, and 2 years later developed two more intracranial mass lesions, one in the right parietal area, the other attached to the dura of the right frontal fossa. Histological examination of all three tumors showed precisely the same well-differentiated morphology of hemangioblastoma. Foci of extramedullary hematopoiesis were present within them. Electron microscopic examination of the last two lesions disclosed secretory granules within the tumor cells, indicative of erythropoietin production, as described previously in a hemangioblastoma. Collagen and endothelial cells were not present in quantities consistent with an angioblastic meningioma. The genesis of hemangioblastomas is discussed.