Intra- and paraventricular arteriovenous malformations: symptomatology, neuroradiological diagnosis, surgical approach and postoperative results.

A series of 8 patients with para- and intraventricular arteriovenous malformations (AVM) is presented. Confirmed by histopathological examination or based upon their history all of them sustained recurrent intraventricular or intracerebral haemorrhages. Our results strongly recommend a surgical removal of these AVMs as a feasible and mandatory form of treatment. Conservative methods, e.g., embolisation or gamma beam irradiation leave the patient susceptible to rebleeding which often results in devastating neurological deficits. Total removal of the AVM with minimal surgical trauma was achieved in 7 patients under controlled hypotension and was facilitated by stereotactic guidance in two patients. Post surgical re-bleeding was not observed in any of our patients even though in one case only a subtotal resection of the angiomatous malformation was achieved. Based on our experience, we advocate an inspection of the lateral ventricle in order to avoid leaving any intraventricular portion of the vascular malformation behind. MRI investigation is recommended because the multiplanar images clarify the topographic-anatomic location and its relation to important surgical landmarks.