[Combined treatment of arteriovenous malformations of the head and neck]

An arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a vascular developmental abnormality conditioned by impaired embryonic morphogenesis and characterized by the development of an abnormal connection between arteries and veins. More than 50% of the total number of patients suffering from this pathology are those having the pathological foci localizing in the area of the head and neck. At present, a combined method is both a generally accepted and the most radical one used for treatment for AVM. However, in the majority of cases, excision of the malformation leaves an extensive and complicated defect of tissues, whose direct closure leads to coarse cicatricious deformities. Over the period from 2004 to 2012, we followed up a total of 37 patients presenting with arteriovenous malformations of the head and neck. At admission the patients underwent preoperative examination including clinical tests, ultrasound duplex scanning, arteriography, MRT, and computed tomography. 24-72 hours prior to the operative intervention the patients were subjected to embolisation of the main vessels supplying the vascular malformation. Excision of the AVM was in 8 cases followed by primary closure of the postoperative wound, in 17 patients the defect was closed by transposition of the axial flaps, and 12 subjects underwent free transplantation of composite complexes of tissues. Relapse of the disease was revealed in 17 patients. In the majority of cases, relapses developed during the first year after the operative intervention (10 cases). The control of the disease's course was obtained in 20 patients. In 8 of the 12 patients with free transplantation of flaps we managed to obtain long-term control over the disease's course (more than 5 years). Hence, free microsurgical transplantation of compound complexes of tissues may be considered as a method of choice for closing the defect after excising an AVM in the area of the head and neck. Replacement of the defect with a well-vascularized tissue complex considerably improves regional haemodynamics, decreases tissue ischaemia, and is capable of providing longterm control over the disease's course.