Capillary hemangioma is a benign vascular malformation that is usually encountered in soft-tissue. Rarely, it may occur in the neuraxis, and spinal capillary hemangioma (SCH) is a rare variant of it. Existing literature on SCH is limited because of its rarity. As a result, epidemiological and clinical characteristics as well as management strategy for SCH are still lacking. Here, we present a report on five patients with pathologically proven SCH, treated in Beijing Tiantan Hospital between 2013 and 2015.

Patients’ age, gender, clinical manifestations, radiological features, operative methods, and surgical outcomes were retrospectively reviewed, and an updated review of the literature was also provided.

Four patients were men and one was a woman, with a median age at presentation of 43 years (range: 15–66 years). Two lesions were intramedullary, two epidural, and one intradural extramedullary. The thoracic segment was most commonly affected (n = 3, 60%), followed by the cervical (n = 1, 20%) and lumbar (n = 1, 20%) segments. Common symptoms, in descending order, were numbness and paresthesia, limb weakness, and pain. The surgical procedure was successfully performed with total resection of the tumor achieved in 4 patients and subtotal in 1 patient. During an average follow-up period of 32 months (range: 27–43 months), recovery of the clinical symptoms was observed in all five patients.

SCH is a rare benign vascular disease, for which surgical resection of the lesion, by the en bloc method, is recommended. Clinically, it usually manifests with progressive myelopathy, but early surgical intervention usually produces good results and may prevent permanent neurological deficits.