The authors conducted a long-term follow-up study of 168 patients to define the natural history of clinically unruptured intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVM's). Charts of patients seen at the Mayo Clinic between 1974 and 1985 were reviewed. Follow-up information was obtained on 166 patients until death, surgery, or other intervention, or for at least 4 years after diagnosis (mean follow-up time 8.2 years). All available cerebral arteriograms and computerized tomography scans of the head were reviewed. Intracranial hemorrhage occurred in 31 patients (18%), due to AVM rupture in 29 and secondary to AVM or aneurysm rupture in two. The mean risk of hemorrhage was 2.2% per year, and the observed annual rates of hemorrhage increased over time. The risk of death from rupture was 29%, and 23% of survivors had significant long-term morbidity. The size of the AVM and the presence of treated or untreated hypertension were of no value in predicting rupture.
The purpose of this study was to determine the symptoms at presentation and the incidence of intracranial hemorrhage (ICrH) caused by intracranial vascular malformations (IVMs) in a defined population. The authors used the Mayo Clinic medical records linkage system to detect all cases of IVM among residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, during the period 1965 through 1992. Forty-eight IVMs were detected over the 27-year period. Twenty-nine of the 48 patients were symptomatic at presentation. The most common presenting symptom was ICrH, which was present in 20 patients, 69% of all symptomatic cases. Sixty-five percent of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) presented with ICrH. The most common subtype of ICrH was intracerebral hemorrhage, which was found in nine of 20 patients; the second most common subtype was subarachnoid hemorrhage. The peak occurrence of hemorrhage was during the fifth decade of life. The age- and gender-adjusted occurrence of a first ICrH from an IVM among residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota was 0.82 per 100,000 person years (95% confidence interval 0.46-1.19). There was no increase in the detection of IVM-related ICrH throughout the study period. The 30-day mortality rate following ICrH was 17.6% for patients with an AVM and 25% for all patients with IVMs. This study provides unique data on symptoms at presentation and the incidence of ICrH and hemorrhage subtypes from IVMs on a population basis.
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