Diagnosis of cerebral arteriovenous malformations with three-dimensional CT angiography.

High speed spiral computed tomography (CT) is well known to be a good tool to visualize cerebrovascular lesions; this technique is called three-dimensional CT angiography (3D-CTA). Although 3D-CTA is widely accepted to diagnose cerebral aneurysms because it is less invasive and more useful than digital subtraction angiography, little is known about its diagnostic potential for arteriovenous malformation (AVM). In this study, the efficacy of 3D-CTA in diagnosis and surgical planning was investigated in 21 patients with AVMs. AVMs located in the cerebral hemisphere, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia, the brain stem, the corpus callosum, the optic chiasm and the lateral ventricle. 3D-CTA clearly demonstrated the three-dimensional feature of the feeding artery, the nidus, the draining vein and the surrounding normal structures. We conclude that 3D-CTA is essential to preoperative planning for the appropriate surgical approach toward the AVM.