Comparative Analysis of Endovascular and Microsurgical Treatment of Intracranial AVM (original) (raw)

Angiographic and Clinical Assessment of Patients with Cerebral Arterio-Venous Malformations Treated with Microsurgery and Angioembolization

Introuction: Brain Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are the leading cause of intracerebral hemorrhage in the young population. We set out to determine angiographic features of AVMs in pre-operative setting as well as angiographic and neurological and clinical assessment of these AVMs after treatment with either microsurgical approach or angio-embolization. Materials and Methods: From February 2011 to January 2016, 25 patients with cerebral AVMs were admitted to Shohada Tajrish Hospital. Patients underwent angiographic evaluation for AVM grading based on Spetzler Martin grading system. Also, patient's neurological status was recorded. Based on Spetzler Martin score and AVM size, patients underwent either microsurgical approach or angio-embolization. Post-operatively, early and long-term neurological examination was performed and obliteration rate was assessed by post-operative imaging study. Results: There were 18 male and 7 female patients with mean age of 42.2 years who presented with cerebral hemorrhage followed by isolated new-onset seizure, progressive new focal neurological deficit and severe new-onset headache in decreasing manner. Seizure was significantly higher in patients with unruptured AVMs (P value <0.01). Angiographic study based on Spetzler-Martin grading system showed that most of the patients had grade 3 (32%), followed by grade 4 (28%), grade 2 (28%), grade 5 (8%) and grade 1 (4%). Most AVMs were eloquent with superficial drainage and small sized. Based on AVM size, trend for operation type in small and medium sized AVMs was microsurgical approach followed by angio-embolization. On the other hand, most patients with large-sized AVMs underwent angio-embolization followed by microsurgical approach. Early post-operative examination revealed more new neurological deficit in angio-embolization than microsurgery treated patients (P value <0.05). Improvement in neurological status was observed in microsurgery treated cases compared to angio-embolization (P value <0.05). Long-term follow up showed similar promising results in patients treated with microsurgery which was statistically significant (P value <0.05). Post-operative imaging study demonstrates complete obliteration in 12 patients out of 15 patients (80%) who underwent microsurgical approach. Complete obliteration was observed in 4 cases out of 10 patients (40%) who were treated with angio-embolization. (P value < 0.05). Conclusion: Although results of this study showed better results with microsurgical approach, choosing best treatment option for patients suffering from symptomatic AVMs depends on imaging studies, pre-operative grading and individual-based selection.

Feasibility and outcomes of endovascular embolization of cerebral arteriovenous malformations at a low-volume centre

Journal of vascular and interventional neurology, 2013

Herein, we report our initial experience with the endovascular management of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) using the liquid embolic agent Onyx and n-butyl cyanoacrylate for AVM embolization. We reviewed data from 15 patients with brain AVMs, who were observed at our endovascular facility from January 2008 to July 2011. All cases were embolized with Onyx and/or n-butyl cyanoacrylate. There were 8 women and 7 men with a mean age of 27.2 years (range 17-43 years). The clinical presentations included intracerebral haemorrhage (n = 7), seizures (n = 4), headache (n = 2), and focal neurological deficits (n = 2); according to the Spetzler-Martin classification (Spetzler R and Martin N (1986) J NeurosurgV65 446-83), 8 AVMs were grades I-II, 5 were grade III, and 2 were grades IV-V. A total of 31 embolization procedures were performed in 15 patients, and 44 feeding pedicles were embolized, ranging from 1 to 5 per patient, with an average size reduction of 70% (median 75%, range...