Von Hippel-Lindau with early onset of hemangioblastoma and multiple drop-metastases like spinal lesions: A case report

RATIONALE: Hemangioblastoma is a rare tumor of the central nervous system (CNS). It is usually observed in patients with von-Hippel Lindau (VHL). The peak age for hemangioblastoma is between 20 and 50 years of age with very few cases over 65 or below 18 years of age. PATIENT CONCERNS: We report a female with a rare VHL mutation (c.337C>T) who was diagnosed with multifocal CNS hemangioblastoma at a very young age. DIAGNOSIS: At 17-years of age, she presented with obstructive hydrocephalus due to large cystic cerebellar mass. Imaging showed multiple lesions resembling drop metastases throughout her spinal cord. Immunohistochemistry of the resected tumor confirmed the pathological diagnosis of hemangioblastoma (World Health Organization Grade 1). INTERVENTIONS AND OUTCOME: She was treated with multi-stage resection of her primary and drop- metastasis like disease. She presented six months later with retinal hemangioblastoma while her other lesions were stable. She presented with multiple CNS and eye hemangioblastomas after failing to follow up for 2 years. Subsequently, Everolimus was started to treat her systemic disease. LESSONS: The unique feature of our case is the presence of multiple drop-metastases like spinal lesions, which has not been reported in the literature to be associated with hemangioblastoma.