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Brain arteriovenous malformations

Nature Reviews Disease Primers volume 1, Article number: 15008 (2015) Cite this article

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Abstract

An arteriovenous malformation is a tangle of dysplastic vessels (nidus) fed by arteries and drained by veins without intervening capillaries, forming a high-flow, low-resistance shunt between the arterial and venous systems. Arteriovenous malformations in the brain have a low estimated prevalence but are an important cause of intracerebral haemorrhage in young adults. For previously unruptured malformations, bleeding rates are approximately 1% per year. Once ruptured, the subsequent risk increases fivefold, depending on associated aneurysms, deep locations, deep drainage and increasing age. Recent findings from novel animal models and genetic studies suggest that arteriovenous malformations, which were long considered congenital, arise from aberrant vasculogenesis, genetic mutations and/or angiogenesis after injury. The phenotypical characteristics of arteriovenous malformations differ among age groups, with fistulous lesions in children and nidal lesions in adults. Diagnosis mainly involves imaging techniques, including CT, MRI and angiography. Management includes observation, microsurgical resection, endovascular embolization and stereotactic radiosurgery, alone or in any combination. There is little consensus on how to manage patients with unruptured malformations; recent studies have shown that patients managed medically fared better than those with intervention at short-term follow-up. By contrast, interventional treatment is preferred following a ruptured malformation to prevent rehaemorrhage. Management continues to evolve as new mechanistic discoveries and reliable animal models raise the possibility of developing drugs that might prevent the formation of arteriovenous malformations, induce obliteration and/or stabilize vessels to reduce rupture risk. For an illustrated summary of this Primer, visit: http://go.nature.com/TMoAdn

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of normal vasculature and an arteriovenous malformation.
Figure 2: Molecular mechanism of artery and vein differentiation in homeostasis and pathology.
Figure 3: Hypotheses of arteriovenous malformation pathogenesis and the role of ALK1.
Figure 4: Prenatal and postnatal diagnosis of an intracranial pial arteriovenous fistula.
Figure 5: Imaging of a feeding artery pseudoaneurysm with haemorrhage.
Figure 6: Resection strategy of arteriovenous malformations.
Figure 7: Arteriovenous malformation occlusion through radiosurgery and transarterial glue embolization.
Figure 8: Tectal arteriovenous malformations treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery.
Figure 9: Hypothetical cumulative risk of rupture in patients with arteriovenous malformations.

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Acknowledgements

This primer cites research that was supported in part by US National Institutes of Health grants: R01 NS034949 (H.K.) and U54 NS065075 (M.T.L.). The Brain Vascular Malformation Consortium (U54NS065075) is part of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), an initiative of the Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR) that is funded through collaboration between National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, 505 Parnassus Avenue, M780, San Francisco, 94143, California, USA

    Michael T. Lawton & W. Caleb Rutledge

  2. Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco, USA

    Helen Kim

  3. Department of Neurology, APHP Hôpital Lariboisière, Paris, France

    Christian Stapf

  4. DHU Neurovasc, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France

    Christian Stapf

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Kevin J. Whitehead & Dean Y. Li

  6. Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Timo Krings & Karel terBrugge

  7. Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Douglas Kondziolka

  8. Clinical Medicine, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Michael K. Morgan

  9. Division of Neurological Surgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

    Karam Moon & Robert F. Spetzler

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Contributions

Introduction (M.T.L.); Epidemiology (W.C.R., H.K. and C.S.); Mechanisms/pathophysiology (K.J.W., D.Y.L. and H.K.); Diagnosis, screening and prevention (T.K. and K.T.B.); Management (M.T.L., T.K., K.T.B. and D.K.); Quality of life (M.K.M.); Outlook (K.M., R.F.S., M.T.L. and H.K.); overview of Primer (M.T.L.).

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Correspondence to Michael T. Lawton.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Lawton, M., Rutledge, W., Kim, H. et al. Brain arteriovenous malformations. Nat Rev Dis Primers 1, 15008 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrdp.2015.8

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