title: Venous angiomas of the posterior fossa should be considered as anomalous venous drainage.
abstract: Venous angioma of the posterior fossa has been described, and the existing literature has been reviewed. The patient presented had a venous angioma located in the pons, and both cerebellar hemispheres and was drained by an enlarged and anatomically anomalous vein within the fourth ventricle. The patient had a "cough headache" and later had signs of cerebellar involvement. A surgical attempt at collapsing the anomalous vein resulted in death in the immediate postoperative period due to venous infarction of the brain stem and cerebellum. Emphasis has been given to the following: 1. "Cough Headache" can be a presenting feature for venous angiomas of the posterior fossa. 2. Venous angiomas of the posterior fossa are developmental anatomic anomalies with enlargement of certain venous structures as a result of inadequate alternative venous drainage. 3. The enlarged vein, which is the pathognomonic feature of venous angiomas, serves a vital function in drainage of blood from structures in the posterior fossa as the usual drainage pathways are inadequate or absent. 4. Operative intervention aimed at resection or collapse of such large veins, which has been successful in treatment of venous angiomas of the frontal lobe, can be disastrous in the treatment of those lesions occurring in the posterior fossa.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D003388:Cranial Fossa, Posterior; D005260:Female; D006391:Hemangioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*