Calcified hemangioma of the spinal canal: unusual CT and MR presentation.

With the advent of high-resolution CT, criteria for the diagnosis of intraspinal hemangiomas have been established . These consist of the presence of intracanalicular soft-tissue masses of mild to moderately hyperdense attenuation with variable degrees of contrast enhancement, primarily in association with vertebral hemangioma [1-6]. The presence of calcification in the intraspinal soft-tissue component has not to our knowledge been reported. We report a symptomatic intraspinal hemangioma with marked soft-tissue calcification causing cord compression . Whenever a calcified intraspinal extradural soft-tissue mass is encountered on CT the differential diagnosis of hemangioma should be included as an alternative to a calcified extradural meningioma since the former is a hypervascular lesion prone to massive, uncontrollable bleeding during surgery [7]. This case is also of interest as it represents the first demonstration of intraspinal hemangioma by MR imaging.