Interferon in the treatment of base of the skull hemangioendothelioma

Hemangioendothelioma is an uncommon vascular tumor that falls between hemangioma and angiosarcomas in behavior and appearance. These tumors may occur anywhere in the body, even very rarely in the brain. 1 In certain locations, when not excisable, they may threaten the life of the patient because they are slowly progressive in nature. The base of the brain is such a location. In the past, when a hemangioendothelioma could not be excised, various approaches were used with limited success. Recently, α-interferon has been reported to be successful in the treatment of this tumor. 1-3 We present a 3-year-old child with an extensive hemangioendothelioma arising at the base of the skull that responded dramatically to prolonged administration of α-interferon.