Hemangioma of rib: a different perspective.

BACKGROUND: Hemangiomas are one of the common primary benign tumors of the intraosseous and soft tissue compartments in humans. Vertebral hemangiomas being the most common of all are seen in daily radiological practice. Hemangioma of the rib is rarely seen. CASE REPORT: We reported on a case of a rib lesion which had a classic imaging pattern of hemangioma. We highlighted the use of pre-operative embolization of such a vascular rib lesion before surgically removing the lesion by thoracotomy to reduce the risk of bleeding. CONCLUSIONS: We also emphasized overt complications of overzealous needling of such a vascular lesion for histopathological diagnosis as in our case.