Endoscopic resection of cavernoma of foramen of Monro in a patient with familial multiple cavernomatosis

Intraventricular cavernomas are extremely unfrequent and only 11 cases of cavernous hemangioma to occur at the foramen of Monro have been reported in the literature.This 56 years old patient was admitted with progressive and intractable headache of 10 days of evolution. He was known to suffer familial multiple cavernomatosis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), revealed obstructive hydrocephalus due to a cavernoma located in the area of the left foramen of Monro. Under neuronavigation guidance, complete endoscopic resection of the cavernoma was performed and normal ventricular size achieved. The patient experienced transient recent memory loss that resolved within a month after surgery. In the literature attempted endoscopic resection is reported to be abandoned due to bleeding and ineffectiveness of piecemeal endoscopic resection. In this case, the multiplicity of the lesions made it advisable to resect the lesion endoscopically, to avoid an open procedure in a patient with multiple potentially surgical lesions. Endoscopic resection was uneventful with easy control of bleeding with irrigation, suction, and bipolar coagulation despite dense vascular appearance of the lesion. During the procedure, precise visualization of the vascular structures around the foramen of Monro allowed complete resection with satisfactory control of the instruments. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first published cavernoma of foramen of Monro successfully resected using an endoscopic approach.