Treatment Options
There are many treatment options available for patients with arteriovenous malformations, with the main choices being surgery, radiation, and embolization.
Formula often used to calculate a person’s lifetime risk of rupture when considering treatment is:
Lifetime Risk (in %) = 105 – Patient’s Age (Mayfield Clinic)
There are, however, many factors to consider that could affect the chance, such as the location and type of AVM.
Treatment Options
- Observation
- Neurosurgery via Craniotomy (for brain AVMs)
- Radiosurgery: Use of radiation to treat diseases in the body by damaging DNA inside cells. Benefits are very gradual and may take years before apparent.
- Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS)
- Fractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy (FSRT)
- Whole Brain Radiotherapy (WBRT)
- Embolization: Surgically blocking blood vessel to prevent blood flow
- Sclerotherapy: Injection of sclerosant directly into the vascular malformation to cause scarring to cause symptomatic relief for patients and possible shrinkage of the vascular anomaly.
- Surgery (for non-brain AVMs)