RESUMO
Objective To discuss the clinical manifestations and the morphological features of intracranial arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in childhood. Methods During the period from Jan. 2012 to June 2013, a total of 14 AVM patients under the age of 14 years were admitted to authors’ hospital. Of the 14 patients, 11 had a history of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (78.6%), 7 complained of headache (50.5% ), 5 showed signs of unilateral limb weakness (35.7% ), and 2 was accompanied with epileptic attacks (14.3% ). The clinical characteristics, the preoperative imaging features and DSA findings were retrospectively analyzed. Results DSA showed that terminal feeding branches were visualized in 9 cases and blood supply from perforating branches was seen in the remaining 5 cases. In seven cases the feeding artery was single, while in the remaining 7 cases the feeding artery was multiple, and in four of them combination blood supply from both anterior and posterior circulation was found. The lesions were situated at the lateral or convex surface of cerebral hemisphere (n = 5), lateral ventricle (n = 4), cerebral bottom (n = 3) or medial surface of cerebral hemisphere (n = 2). The lesion’s diameter was < 30 mm in 10 cases and (30 -60) mm in 4 cases. According to Spetzler- Martin grading, grade Ⅰ was seen in 4 cases, grade Ⅱ in 2 cases, grade Ⅲ in 5 cases and grade Ⅳ in 3 cases. Conclusion Although in childhood AVM lesion is small in size and lower in grading, its onset is early and the lesion is prone to bleeding. DSA findings indicate that most AVMs in childhood take the form of immature type. Nevertheless, its natural course needs to be further studied.