Intracranial Hemorrhage as a Complication of Preoperative Embolization for Brain Tumor: Report of Two Cases

ABSTRACT

Hemorrhage associated with an intracranial neoplasm is a rare event and can produce a serious outcome. Most of the intracranial hemorrhages in brain tumors are in the subarachnoid, intracerebral, or subdural area and cases of intratumoral or intraventricular hemorrhage are relatively rare. The authors report two cases of brain tumors associated with intratumoral and intraventricular hemorrhage which occurred during the preoperative embolization. The diagnoses were petro-clival hemangiopericytoma and suspected intraventricular meningioma. There was no specific precipitating factor for the bleeding. We discuss the possible mechanisms of intracranial hemorrhage in these cases, and stress the unexpected complication when performing preoperative embolization.