HEREDITARY VASCULAR TUMORS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

The hereditary tendency in angiomatous disease of the nervous system has been noted by all observers who have studied the condition now known as hemangiomatosis (Lindau's disease). It was Arvid Lindau who in 1926 proved the hemangiomatous nature of certain cystic tumors of the cerebellum and showed that these tumors are frequently associated with so-called angiomatosis retinae (von Hippel's disease).¹ The familial incidence of this condition was understood by Lindau but was definitely established by Möller, who reported six cases (four of them verified) in three generations of a single family.² Levin noted that, in every reported case of multiple vascular tumors of the nervous system with autopsy examination, a similar lesion was found in the spinal cord.³ Wyburn-Mason reviewed 47 cases and noted that few cases affecting the spinal cord have shown familial or hereditary influences but found a definite association with hypernephroma, apparently of a