Intraosseous arteriovenous malformations mimicking malignant disease.

Primary (congenital) intraosseous arteriovenous malformations are rare, accounting for less than one per cent of all primary intraosseous lesions. They are quite variable in their gross and microscopic presentation, yet all can be traced to anomalous development of the primitive vascular system. They may be totally asymptomatic, cosmetically disfiguring, painful, or on rare occasions, cause high-output cardiac failure. Surgical treatment is often unrewarding with recurrence not uncommon. Intra-arterial embolization has shown promising results. We present three cases of primary intraosseous arteriovenous malformations which on initial work-up mimicked malignant disease. Arteriography proved diagnostic in all three cases.