Hemangioblastomas are rare lesions, accounting for 15% of all spinal cord tumors. Seventy-five per cent of them are intramedullary.
Lesions of the conus medullaris and the cauda equina are sporadic and typical in von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. We describe the case of a 58-year-old man presenting with radicular pain.
Magnetic resonance images revealed a hyperintense tumor of the cauda equina. Surgical intervention consisted of an L2 laminectomy and complete en-bloc resection of a reddish-brown, highly vascular lesion.
Histopathological study identified it as a hemangioblastoma. Von Hippel-Lindau disease was not proven.