Results in the treatment of intracranial hemangiopericytomas. Case series

Objective: Intracranial hemangiopericytoma (HPC) is a rare central nervous system tumor characterized by its low incidence, high rate of local recurrence and risk of metastasis. The main objectives of this paper are two: to show the results in the treatment of HPC in our institution in the last 20years and to make a review of the literature on this topic.

Methods: Retrospective review that includes patients diagnosed with intracranial solitary fibrous tumor/hemangiopericytoma (SFT/HPC) that have undergone surgery from 1997 to 2017. It includes patients that had nuclear expression of STAT-6 (detected by immunohistochemistry) and gradeII/III histopathological diagnosis (defined by the World Health Organization in 2016). We collected demographic data, tumor characteristics, treatment and survival of these patients.

Results: A total of 19 patients fulfilled inclusion criteria. The median follow up was 96 months (12-230). The mortality rate was 21% (n=4). 57.9% of patients presented at least one tumor recurrence (n=11) (recurrences of 6%, 67% y 90% at 1, 5 and 10years). Five patients presented extracranial metastasis. Patients with tumors <6cm had greater survival (P<.05).

Conclusions: A series of patients undergoing SFT/HPC were presented according to the new WHO criteria. Size is a predictor of survival. Currently there are no validated criteria for surgical resection in this pathology. A classification with surgical guidance would be useful.