Intraosseous cavernous hemangioma of the left maxillary bone

Findings

Noncontrast orbital CT demonstrates a mass arising from the left maxillary bone with internal bony trabeculations in a “honeycomb,” “sunburst,” or “spokewheel” pattern typical for an intraosseous cavernous hemangioma.
This pattern of trabeculation on CT translates into a network of linear hypointense T1 and T2 signal with interspersed areas of enhancement on the T1 post gadolinium images characteristic of this entity.


Diagnosis: Intraosseous cavernous hemangioma of the left maxillary bone


Intraosseous cavernous hemangiomas are benign neoplasms which comprise only up to 1% of all osseous tumors and 7-10% of skull tumors. These are most frequently seen in the frontal and parietal bones with the orbital and maxillofacial bones infrequently involved. These tumors are slow growing and are generally asymptomatic unless they cause mass effect on sensitive structures such as within the intraorbital compartment. In symptomatic cases, en bloc resection is generally the treatment of choice. Preoperative angiography with potential embolization may be helpful as these tumors can bleed profusely.

Clinical differential diagnosis includes fibrous dysplasia, osteoma, dermoid cyst, meningioma, eosinophilic granuloma, Lagerhan cell histiocytosis, and metastatic disease. On imaging, these tumors are well-defined and have characteristic internal trabeculations and enhancement features described as a “honeycomb,” “sunburst,” or “spokewheel” pattern. Malignant degeneration is rare.