Cavernous haemangioma mimicking multiple sclerosis

Cavernous haemangiomas are vascular malformations that rarely affect the brain, but their clinical presentation can simulate multiple sclerosis. The likelihood of mistaking cavernous haemangioma for multiple sclerosis is increased further by the fact that cavernous haemangiomas are poorly identified by angiography, and even computed tomography has a relatively low sensitivity and specificity for these lesions.1 However, high field magnetic resonance imaging is able to distinguish cavernous haemangiomas, and since its introduction increasing numbers have been reported.1

We describe two patients who had been diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis many years before the widespread use of computed tomography or the advent of magnetic resonance imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging subsequently showed that they had cavernous haemangioma.