Cerebral Hemangiopericytoma Manifesting as Epilepsia Partialis Continua: A Case Report

Abstract

Cerebral hemangiopericytomas are very rare mesenchymal tumours arising from pericytes surrounding the blood vessels in the brain. Most patients present with headaches, focal neurological findings and focal seizures with or without generalisation. Our patient chiefly complained of an uncontrollable movement of her right hand that was initially fleeting but later became continuous. Her symptoms were initially described as tremors. We found an intracranial tumour as a cause of her symptoms, suspected the tumour to be a meningioma and performed surgical extirpation which resulted in symptom resolution. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry of the excised mass revealed that the tumour was hemangiopericytoma. The patient is being closely monitored for recurrences and metastasis. Hemangiopericytomas are very rare and they rarely result in the abnormal movements of epilepsia partialis continua. Differentiation of the abnormal movements of epilepsia partialis continua from tremors is very important as is the differentiation of the tumour from meningioma.