Cerebral Arterio-Venus Malformation

A cerebral AVM is a congenital, vascular lesion occurring in the brain and is composed of a tangled collection of abnormal, dilated blood vessels that shunt arterial blood into the venous system without the usual connecting capillary network.  These malformations are predisposed to hemorrhage for two reasons-first, the vessel walls are thinner and more tortuous and secondly, due to the absence of the capillary network the blood flow is accelerated and pressure is elevated within the vessel walls.

Embolization uses neuroendovascular techniques to guide a microcatheter into the blood vessels that “feed” the AVM.  Through the catheter, types of “super glue” or particles are injected into the malformation to block off some of these “feeding” vessels.  This procedure may make surgical removal of the AVM safer and decrease blood loss, or it may shrink the size of the AVM so that stereotactic radiosurgery is a possible form of treatment.