Haemangioma of a vertebral body treated by ligation of the segmental arteries. Report of a case.

Recent advances in arteriographic techniques have considerably widened the scope of the surgical treatment of arteriovenous malformations involving spinal vessels. Such lesions have been successfully treated by various neurosurgical methods (Houdart, Djindjian and Hurth 1966; Love, Svien, Baker and Layton 1966; Ommaya, Di Chiro and Doppman 1969). The following case history is of interest in that a vascular malformation supplied by branches from the first lumbar arteries almost completely replaced the first lumbar vertebral body. Arteriography, used before operation to demonstrate the vessels contributing to the lesion, was of considerable value because it showed that if these vessels were ligated the blood supply to the spinal cord would not be impaired.