Hemangioblastoma: Systemic therapy
Hemangioblastoma is a benign vascular neoplasm that arises almost exclusively in the central nervous system but is occasionally seen elsewhere. It can be associated with Hippel-Lindau disease. According to the World Health Organization classification of tumors of the nervous system, hemangioblastomas are classified as meningeal tumors of uncertain origin. Treatment approaches are usually local: surgery, embolization or radiosurgery.
Little is known about systemic treatment of hemangioblastoma. Chemotherapy does not appear to be beneficial and I did not find any published literature on the use of Xeloda. Sorafenib does not appears to work. A single 2012 case report suggested that pazopanib may work but this remains to be substantiated. Several trials of novel agents are listed on clinicaltrials.gov.
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