Surgical experience with arteriovenous malformations in children.

The authors report their surgical experience with 15 cases of arteriovenous malformations in children operated on in the last decade. Subarachnoid hemorrhage was the main clinical manifestation in 12 patients. Epilepsy was a secondary feature in 3 of these. Cortical areas were involved in 7 cases while the other 8 had the malformation in medial or deep structures of the brain. No mortality occurred from surgery. A radical excision was achieved in 12 cases, while in 3 cases remnants of the lesion were shown by postoperative angiography. Nine patients recovered from surgery without neurological impairment. Two children with left-sided arteriovenous malformations showed mild speech disturbances and 2 others with midline lesions suffered from hypotonus and ataxia.