Cerebral arteriovenous malformations in children: neuroimaging findings

Cerebral arteriovenous malformations (CAVMs) are uncommon in children. CAVMs represent the most frequent intracranial vascular pathology at pediatric ages. This report concerns 13 children below the age of 16; all were identified between September 1995 and December 1996 with 14 CAVMs among them. All were proved by conventional cerebral angiography (CCA). Thirteen computed tomography (CT), 7 magnetic resonance images (MRI), 2 magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and 13 conventional cerebral angiography (CCA) were analyzed. Most CAVMs nidus were located in cerebral hemispheres. Four in the temporal lobe, two in the parietal lobe, three in the frontal lobe, two in the occipital lobe, and three in the corpus callosum. One of them was of a mixed type with two nidi. The major clinical features of CAVMs were intracranial hemorrhage and seizures. Experience here was that MRI is superior to CT in showing the exact anatomic relationships of the nidus and in demonstrating the extent of CAVMs nidus obliteration after treatment. MRA provided a noninvasive means of studying blood vessels and vascular pathology in relationship to the CAVMs nidus. Standard angiography is still necessary to characterize in-flow and out-flow of vessels in CAVMs when definitive treatment is considered.