Angioarchitectural features of hemorrhagic presentation of brain arteriovenous malformations: A multivariate and...

Brain arteriovenous malformations (BAVM) pose a significant rupture risk, leading to morbidity and mortality. Identifying features associated with hemorrhagic presentation is crucial for improving understanding of AVM phenotypes at diagnosis. The purpose of this study is to comparatively evaluate logistic regression and machine learning models for identifying angioarchitectural features associated with hemorrhagic BAVM presentation, and to assess whether machine learning offers discrimination advantages over conventional regression.

We retrospectively analyzed 153 BAVM patients admitted to Stony Brook University Hospital between 2001 and 2022. A logistic regression model was built based on LASSO-selected variables. To compare analytical approaches, we evaluated several machine learning algorithms, and AdaBoost and SVM performed best and were selected for further analysis.

Based on the multivariate regression analysis, BAVM size (OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.91-0.99, p = 0.006), deep location (OR = 3.87, 95% CI 1.46-10.28, p = 0.007), presence of an arterial aneurysm (OR = 2.86, 95% CI 1.16-7.08, p = 0.023), and periventricular drainage (OR = 11.87, 95% CI 1.31-107.65, p = 0.028) were independent features associated with hemorrhagic presentation. Among machine learning models, AdaBoost achieved the highest discrimination (AUROC = 0.725), followed closely by SVM (AUROC = 0.719). Logistic regression achieved a comparable AUROC of 0.720, indicating that machine learning did not meaningfully improve discrimination over conventional regression in this cohort. SHAP analysis revealed that deep location, AVM size, and associated arterial aneurysms were consistently the most influential contributors across models.

Our study identified deep location, smaller AVM size, and arterial aneurysms are key features associated with hemorrhagic presentation across both regression and machine learning models. By examining both traditional statistics and explainable artificial intelligence, our study highlights the angioarchitectural features most consistently associated with hemorrhagic presentation across analytical approaches.