December 2, 2013 13:00 — 2 Comments
Study: Treat Only AVM Symptoms
An international patient trial suggests that the safest way of managing arteriovenous malformations (AVM) of the brain is to treat the patient’s symptoms only, and not the AVM. More than 200 patients with a brain AVM were followed for 33 months in a trial, which was led by the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. The trial found that the risks linked to treatment of AVMs were much higher than those associated with leaving them alone. Click here for more information.
Very interesting and innovative study thinking. We need to understand how this could be achieved if symptoms are epilepsy?! Occlusion of intranidal fistula or AVM- related aneurysms to prevent steel or rupture respectively is understood; however, sometimes we can not identify them easily sometimes. Any special imaging was used in this study that help to understand how AVMs cause symptoms?!
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From 1995, when linac-based radiosurgery in India was treated, we have evaluated several hundreds of cerebral AVM referred to us from all over India and neighboring countries. Unfortunately, we do not have a meticulous follow-up, and our data will not stand statistical scrutiny. However, we have scores of anecdotal cases where over the last 15 years, patients with AVM have not undergone any definitive management (for various reasons) and their symptoms have been treated. They are doing well! We must remember that many people die with a meningioma or ANF and not of them. Just because imaging shows a lesion, it does not have to be directly treated. When you have a hammer, everything around you looks like a nail and particularly if the hammer is expensive! This is a most welcome paper.
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