Hemangiopericytoma is not universally recognized as a tumor entity, and there is a trend to reassign it piecemeal to other tumor categories. However, it has been included in the new WHO classification of brain tumors and has been distinguished from both meningioma and fibrous tumor. Since there are few genetic studies in existence, we have performed a comprehensive cytogenetic analysis of an infratentorial hemangiopericytoma in a 55 y‐old female. It was originally classified as a grade II tumor but recurred as a grade III tumor with a proliferation index of 20 %. By use of trypsin‐Giemsa staining (GTG‐banding) and multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization (M‐FISH) we could confirm the loss of chromosomal material 10q that has been previously described in hemangiopericytoma, and furthermore we identified de novo chromosomal aberrations on chromosomes 8. Applying high‐density single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP‐A) karyotyping, we detected several regions suggestive of partial uniparental disomy and clonal deletions as well as segments with loss or gain. These findings together with the results of immunohistochemical investigations seem to justify the nosological separation of hemangiopericytoma as a biologically different entity and should be verified in larger patient series.