Stereotaxic angiography in gamma knife radiosurgery of intracranial arteriovenous malformations.

Gamma knife radiosurgery is an effective alternative to embolization or microsurgical removal of small arteriovenous malformations, particularly in eloquent areas of brain tissue. Stereotaxic angiography is a useful diagnostic and targeting adjunct to gamma knife radiosurgery, and the authors present their experience (1,100 patients) with methods and technique, and show how the nidus of the arteriovenous malformation can be defined angiographically. Dose planning employing digitization of the subtraction image enables determination of the spatial coordinates of the lesion by means of an interactive computer program.