Brain Arteriovenous Malformations (AVM) is a disorder of the blood vessels of the brain, in which there is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins without the presence of brain parenchymal capillaries or congenital nature.
AVMs account for between 1 and 8% of the causes of cerebrovascular disease, compared with intracranial tumors together account for 4% and in relation to intracranial aneurysms between 10 and 25%. These data can permit a general occurrence of one case per 100,000 population per year. 93% are supratentorial arteriovenous malformations and 7% are infratentorial. It is more common among 15 to 30 years of age with a 10% mortality and 30-50% morbidity.
Symptoms usually appear only when complications occur, which involve a rupture of arteriovenous malformation resulting in sudden bleeding in the brain, which is known as Hemorrhagic Cerebrovascular Disease, which is specifically what happens when it breaks arteriovenous malformation.
The risk of bleeding from an AVM is approximately 2 to 4%. More than half of patients with arteriovenous malformation hemorrhage presented as a first malformation symptoms. Intracerebral 82% is followed by subarachnoid hemorrhage, intraventricular and subdural. The annual risk of cerebral hemorrhage was included in studies and depends mainly on the size of the arteriovenous malformation and the patient’s age. Small AVMs are more prone to bleeding because they have more pressure. But the great are more epileptogenic by increased cortical involvement.
If you have symptoms before the rupture of the arteriovenous malformation, these are caused by a small and slow bleeding of abnormal blood vessels, which are often fragile because of their unusual structure and is usually headache, seizures and other sudden neurological problems.
It is recommended that all patients with vascular headache with atypical features that do not respond to medication prescribed by the doctor is suspected of this condition and proceed to perform diagnostic studies to confirm the same as it is known that once displayed bleeding complications, the prognosis is worse.
