title: Natural course of unoperated intracranial arteriovenous malformations: study of 50 cases.
abstract: The clinical course of 50 patients with conservatively treated intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVM's) was followed, most of them for more than 5 years. The average follow-up period was 13.4 years. The initial symptom was intracranial bleeding in 29 patients (58%) and seizure in 15 patients (30%). Small and deep-seated AVM's were associated with a high incidence of bleeding; however, repeated hemorrhages were not necessarily indicative of a poor prognosis. Children younger than 15 years had a better prognosis than adults. There was no correlation between pregnancy and bleeding. In the hemorrhage group, the incidence of rebleeding was 6.9% in the 1st year after initial rupture, 1.91% per year after 5 years, and 0.92% per year after 15 years. The overall incidence of rebleeding was 34.5% in the hemorrhage group. Of the 50 patients, 37 (74%) had a good clinical outcome, four (8%) had a fair outcome, and four (8%) had a poor outcome; five patients died.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Kumamoto University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoyama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uemura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ushio
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kuratsu
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nonaka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fukumura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D002538:Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology