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Updated: Mar 11, 2026
Comprehensive Endovascular and Open Surgical Management of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations
Published on: October 20, 2017
Estimating the Risks of Adverse Radiation Effects After Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Arteriovenous Malformations
Hideyuki Kano1, John C Flickinger2, Daniel Tonetti2
1From the Departments of Neurological Surgery (H.K., D.T., A.H., H.-c.Y., T.J.F., A.N., L.D.L.), Radiation Oncology (J.C.F.), and the Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery (H.K., J.C.F., D.T., A.H., H.-c.Y., T.J.F., A.N., L.D.L.), University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA. kanoh@upmc.edu.
Background And Purpose:
We evaluated risk factors associated with the development of adverse radiation effects (ARE) after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).
Methods:
We evaluated 755 patients with AVM who underwent a single Gamma Knife SRS procedure with at least a 2-year minimum follow-up. Eighty-seven patients (12%) underwent previous resection and 128 (17%) had previous embolization. The median target volume was 3.6 mL (range, 0.1-26.3 mL). The median margin dose was 20 Gy (range, 13-27 Gy).
Results:
Fifty-five patients (7%) developed symptomatic ARE at a median follow-up of 75 months. The cumulative rates of symptomatic ARE were 3.2%, 5.8%, 6.7%, and 7.5% at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years, respectively. Factors associated with a higher rate of developing symptomatic ARE included larger AVM volume, higher margin dose, larger 12-Gy volume, higher Spetzler-Martin grade, and higher radiosurgery-based score. The rates of developing symptomatic ARE were higher in the brain stem (22%) or thalamus (16%), compared with AVMs located in other brain locations (4%-8%). Nineteen patients (3%) sustained irreversible new neurological deficits related to ARE, and 1 patient died. The rates of irreversible symptomatic ARE were 0.8%, 1.9%, 2.1%, and 2.8% at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years, respectively. The 5-year cumulative rates of irreversible symptomatic ARE were 9.1% in thalamus, 12.1% in brain stem, and 1.4% in other locations.
Conclusions:
The knowledge of ARE risk rates after AVM radiosurgery can assist informed consent for patients with AVM, their families, and healthcare providers.
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