Management of Intracranial Cavernous Malformations.

, Huh, Seung Kon

Original Article

Korean Journal of Cerebrovascular Surgery 1999;1(1):75-81.
Published online January 1, 2001.

Management of Intracranial Cavernous Malformations.

Huh, Seung Kon

Department of Neurosurgery, Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Cavernous malformation(CM) is one of the most common intracranial vascular anomaly. CM have dynamic lesion behavior and various clinical spectrum. Hemorrhagic risk and neurological disability seem to be related to multiple factors, including lesion location, age, gender, state of the reproductive cycle, and previous hemorrhage. Selecting the best treatment modality, each clinical scenario requires the proposal of a distinct management approach aimed at weighing the treatment risk against the best estimate of the cumulative natural risk. Management strategies include expectant follow-up in patients with asymptomatic or inaccessible lesions and microsurgical excision of symptomatic and accessible lesions. Radiosurgery could be applied for the progressively symptomatic lesions in inoperable locations, but the mortality and morbidity due to recurrent hemorrhage during latency period and radiation injury should be concerned.

Key Words: Cavernous malformations, Natural history, Lesion behavior, Management risk