Intramedullary cavernous: a diagnosis to remember

Abstract

Diseases of the circulatory system continue to impact the health of populations. Among these, arterial cerebrovascular diseases are an important subgroup. In young adult patients, the years of life potentially lost due to such injuries are considerably higher. In this group, there is a smaller proportion of ischemic events, which can be explained by the occurrence of hemorrhagic events due to vascular malformations and the use of illicit drugs. Cerebrovascular malformations with a higher risk of hemorrhagic events are arteriovenous malformations and cavernous angiomas, also called cavernomas. The latter can occur in any segment of the neuroaxis, and an intramedullary form is considered rare, corresponding to approximately 5.0% of intramedullary lesions. We present the case of an intramedullary cavernoma in a young patient who presented tetraparesis during physical exercise, a diagnosis to be remembered in this age group.