Two Cases of Hemorrhage in Benign Brain Tumors during Systemic Heparinization

Abstract

Anticoagulant therapy is usually used after endovascular operations like coil embolization of aneurysms, or for thromboembolic diseases such as myocardial infarction. Few data exist regarding hemorrhage from benign brain tumors during systemic heparinization with the exception of pituitary adenomas1,2. We experienced two cases of hemorrhage from benign brain tumors during systemic heparinization. The first patient had an unruptured aneurysm in her suprasellar tumor. She underwent coil embolization to prevent hemorrhage during the subsequent tumorectomy. During and after the endovascular operation, she was heparinized and she suffered a hemorrhage from the tumor on the first postoperative day. The second patient had a suprasellar tumor and was heparinized prophylactically for myocardial infarction. He had an intratumoral hemorrhage on the fifth day after the start of the heparinization. This small series suggests that systemic heparinization with brain tumors, even when they are benign, is very dangerous, and further studies with a larger patient base are warranted.