cavernous haemangioma

[aaaaa]

Hi I have a friend who has had a MRI and she wants some information on her condition:

She has cavernous haemangioma in the anterior left parmedian pons. Can you please tell me EXACTLY what this means and if you have any information that I could pass on to her. Thanks

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

A cavernous angioma is an abnormal collection of blood vessels in the brain. Depending on where it is in the brain, it can remain clinically silent, meaning it is very possible to go through life without even knowing it's there. Common symptoms that bring them to attention are seizures, headache, or a neurological problem such as weakness. There is a .5-1% risk per year of bleeding from the cavernous angioma, which again depending on where it is in the brain produces different types of symptoms. Your friend has it in a very high real estate area of the brain and could have weakness, headache, dizziness, eye or facial problems among other possibilities or she could have no symptoms at all if the angioma bleeds, depending on how extensive the hemorrhage is and exactly where it is in the pons. Treatment wise, some cavernous angiomas (again depending on location) have been treated with radiation therapy. Have your friend show her films to a neurologist or neurosurgeon for more info and further management options.

[aaaaa]

Thanks for your helo............Just inregards to your prior reply.......my friend said that the specialist she is going through said that it cannot be removed as it is directly in the centre. So my question is how does such a thing occur???? Also can this kill her and what can she do about it?????


Previous comment:

A cavernous angioma is an abnormal collection of blood vessels in the brain. Depending on where it is in the brain, it can remain clinically silent, meaning it is very possible to go through life without even knowing it's there. Common symptoms that bring them to attention are seizures, headache, or a neurological problem such as weakness. There is a .5-1% risk per year of bleeding from the cavernous angioma, which again depending on where it is in the brain produces different types of symptoms. Your friend has it in a very high real estate area of the brain and could have weakness, headache, dizziness, eye or facial problems among other possibilities or she could have no symptoms at all if the angioma bleeds, depending on how extensive the hemorrhage is and exactly where it is in the pons. Treatment wise, some cavernous angiomas (again depending on location) have been treated with radiation therapy. Have your friend show her films to a neurologist or neurosurgeon for more info and further management options.

[chowby]

Hi,

I just wanted to comment on aaaaa's question about Cavernous Angioma's.  I was recently diagnosed with a C.A. in my Medulla, a very tricky part of the brain.  

I have never had any neurological problem in my life before (35 years) now.  In July of this year, I suddenly felt a deep down anxiety which caused me to be a bit nauseous.  I lost my apetite later that day and thought I was just very tired and stressed out.  Went to bed early that night.  Next morning I woke up feeling a bit lightheaded and proceeded to go to work.  Later in the morning, the lightheadedness was causing me so mush nausea that I vomited.  Went home and saw a doctor immediately who tested me for vertigo and wrote me off as just having a gastrointestinal virus.  

Next day, I felt extremely fatigued and had to lie down every hour just to recover from my normal household chores.  This was very unusual.  I also started to feel a slight numbness in my right thumb.  Later that day, I felt very nauseated, could barely function and the numbness started spreading to my hand and arm.  I was also still very fatigued by the evening.  

Day 3 - still very fatigued and numbness continuing to spread to my right leg and foot.  Took every bit of energy for me to function normally.  Numbness was not paralysis, but rather a feeling like I had just come from the dentist and was just coming out of numbness from having a filling done.  By this time, the numbness had also spread to the right side of my face and neck and ear.

Day 4 -  went to see the doctor again who was suspicious that I had labrynthitis and also took xrays of my neck.  All clear.  Sent me to get an MRI w and w/o contrast.

Day 5 - MRI came back negative on tumors but indicated a C.A. in my medulla 11mm in size. Considered large.

Several days later - went to see a neurosurgeon who confirmed that I had a C.A. in my medulla and it looked like it had recently bled.  Tested my motor skills and coordination.  I was able to complete all the tests without fail, but I felt like I had a two beer buzz going on all the time except when I was sleeping.  Neurosurgeon recommended that I do nothing as the Medulla is a very high risk part of the brain and he had seen no real good cases benefiting from surgery.  Suggested a follow up MRI in a months time.

During the month of waiting, the numbness had spread a bit to my left arm and my scalp.  The numbness was a bit obnoxious, but it was the feeling of drunkeness and lightheadedness that bothered me the most.  I continued to work as a pastry chef, but felt that I had to expend 150% more energy to accomplish things that normally were not difficult.  By the end of the day I was exhausted and needed to lie down for 30 minutes to recharge.  I chose to continue working my 40 hour weeks because I felt that getting up and doing something created a momentum that kept me going.  Lying around the house seemed to only make me weaker and more tired.

In September, I started to feel better.  First the numbness started to recede and gradually, the lightheadedness as well.  A follow up MRI in late September indicated that my C.A. (or the bleeding that surrounded it) was in fact half the original size.  

It is now early November and I can say that I have recovered 100%.  I know however, that a small subset of people who have C.A.'s that bleed, can have repeat bleeding, but I'm crossing my fingers.  

I just wanted to let you know for your friend, that it is possible to recover from this and it definetly helps to have people talk about it since there is very little information about this.  Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.  I'll be checking back time to time.

Laura

[aaaaa]

thanks for your help Laura..........

So are you saying that it can actually go away over time????
Is there anyhing that she can do to help it?????

[tcs]

I have also been diagnosed with a ca in the pons area of my brain.  My sysmptoms have been strictly debilitating pain, burning and unbelievable fatigue in my legs. I am on 4 different medications, but nothing makes me feel any better. Well, now I am getting bad headaches. I have been told that the ca cannot be removed unless it is life threatening and because of the amount of calcification around the ca, that the likelihood of it threatening my life is small. I am now struggling with depression because my quality of life is getting worse and everything I enjoyed doing has been taken from me.  I am terrified that I will continue to feel worse.  Is there any new studies on this or new treatments?  I am so very, very scared and  feeling more hopeless everyday.

[aaaaa]

I really don't know much about it sorry, I was just trying to get information on it for my friend as there is so little information on it out there.