title: Cerebral venous malformation-arteriovenous malformation transition forms.
abstract: Three cases of cerebral venous malformation (CVM) are presented to demonstrate the triad that characterizes CVM: abnormal surface venous drainage, a "star-cluster" system of deep collecting veins, and a deep draining vein. Four other cases are introduced that illustrate this triad and show an additional feature, namely arterial fistulization; these cases represent arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). A final case demonstrates a CVM within an AVM. Both of these structures have a common draining vein and an identical venous core. On the basis of the cases described and of others less suitable for illustration, it is postulated that an AVM is a fistulized CVM and that both relate to a failure in the development of the cortical venous mantle. This proposition is based on the authors' observations and their assessment of the "best possible fit."
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mullan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mojtahedi
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Macdonald
mesh_terms: D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D006801:Humans; D002538:Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data