Clinical symptoms of CNS origin include recurrent headaches, focal neurological deficits, hemorrhagic stroke, and seizures, but CCM can also be asymptomatic. The nature and severity of the symptoms depend on the lesion's location.

Central nervous system cavernous hemangioma is a cavernous hemangioma that arises in the central nervous system (CNS). It can be considered to be a variant of hemangioma, and is characterized by grossly large dilated blood vessels and large vascular channels, less well circumscribed, and more involved with deep structures, with a single layer of endothelium and an absence of neuronal tissue within the lesions. These thinly walled vessels resemble sinusoidal cavities filled with stagnant blood. Blood vessels in patients with cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) can range from a few millimeters to several centimeters in diameter. Most lesions occur in the brain, but any organ may be involved.

In the eye, it is known as orbital cavernous hemangioma and is found in women more frequently than men, most commonly between the ages of 20-40. This neoplasm is usually located within the muscle cone, which is lateral to the optic nerve. It is not usually treated unless the patient is symptomatic. Visual impairment happens when the optic nerve is compressed or the extraocular muscles are surrounded.

Cavernous hemangiomas are the most common benign tumors of the liver. Usually one tumor exists, but multiple lesions can occur in the left or right lobe of the liver in 40% of patients. Their sizes can range from a few millimeters to 20 centimetres. Those over 5 cm are often referred to as "giant hemangiomas".

Cavernous venous malformations present as rounded, bright red or deep purple, spongy nodules, occurring chiefly on the head and neck and may involve both the skin and the mucous membranes.

It can be associated with "KRIT1", "CCM2" or "PDCD10".