Vascular Malformations
A spectrum of congenital, inherited, or acquired abnormalities in BLOOD VESSELS that can adversely affect the normal blood flow in ARTERIES or VEINS. Most are congenital defects such as abnormal communications between blood vessels (fistula), shunting of arterial blood directly into veins bypassing the CAPILLARIES (arteriovenous malformations), formation of large dilated blood blood-filled vessels (cavernous angioma), and swollen capillaries (capillary telangiectases). In rare cases, vascular malformations can result from trauma or diseases.
Arteriovenous Malformations
Abnormal formation of blood vessels that shunt arterial blood directly into veins without passing through the CAPILLARIES. They usually are crooked, dilated, and with thick vessel walls. A common type is the congenital arteriovenous fistula. The lack of blood flow and oxygen in the capillaries can lead to tissue damage in the affected areas.
Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations
Congenital vascular anomalies in the brain characterized by direct communication between an artery and a vein without passing through the CAPILLARIES. The locations and size of the shunts determine the symptoms including HEADACHES; SEIZURES; STROKE; INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGES; mass effect; and vascular steal effect.
Central Nervous System Vascular Malformations
Congenital, inherited, or acquired abnormalities involving ARTERIES; VEINS; or venous sinuses in the BRAIN; SPINAL CORD; and MENINGES.
Hemangioma
A vascular anomaly due to proliferation of BLOOD VESSELS that forms a tumor-like mass. The common types involve CAPILLARIES and VEINS. It can occur anywhere in the body but is most frequently noticed in the SKIN and SUBCUTANEOUS TISSUE. (from Stedman, 27th ed, 2000)
Telangiectasia, Hereditary Hemorrhagic
An autosomal dominant vascular anomaly characterized by telangiectases of the skin and mucous membranes and by recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding. This disorder is caused by mutations of a gene (on chromosome 9q3) which encodes endoglin, a membrane glycoprotein that binds TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR BETA.
Hemangioma, Cavernous, Central Nervous System
A vascular anomaly composed of a collection of large, thin walled tortuous VEINS that can occur in any part of the central nervous system but lack intervening nervous tissue. Familial occurrence is common and has been associated with a number of genes mapped to 7q, 7p and 3q. Clinical features include SEIZURES; HEADACHE; STROKE; and progressive neurological deficit.
Lymphatic Abnormalities
Hemangioma, Cavernous
A vascular anomaly that is a collection of tortuous BLOOD VESSELS and connective tissue. This tumor-like mass with the large vascular space is filled with blood and usually appears as a strawberry-like lesion in the subcutaneous areas of the face, extremities, or other regions of the body including the central nervous system.
Double-Balloon Enteroscopy
Arteriovenous Fistula
An abnormal direct communication between an artery and a vein without passing through the CAPILLARIES. An A-V fistula usually leads to the formation of a dilated sac-like connection, arteriovenous aneurysm. The locations and size of the shunts determine the degree of effects on the cardiovascular functions such as BLOOD PRESSURE and HEART RATE.
Sclerotherapy
Treatment of varicose veins, hemorrhoids, gastric and esophageal varices, and peptic ulcer hemorrhage by injection or infusion of chemical agents which cause localized thrombosis and eventual fibrosis and obliteration of the vessels.
Port-Wine Stain
A vascular malformation of developmental origin characterized pathologically by ectasia of superficial dermal capillaries, and clinically by persistent macular erythema. In the past, port wine stains have frequently been termed capillary hemangiomas, which they are not; unfortunately this confusing practice persists: HEMANGIOMA, CAPILLARY is neoplastic, a port-wine stain is non-neoplastic. Port-wine stains vary in color from fairly pale pink to deep red or purple and in size from a few millimeters to many centimeters in diameter. The face is the most frequently affected site and they are most often unilateral. (From Rook et al., Textbook of Dermatology, 5th ed, p483)
Angiodysplasia
Acquired degenerative dilation or expansion (ectasia) of normal BLOOD VESSELS, often associated with aging. They are isolated, tortuous, thin-walled vessels and sources of bleeding. They occur most often in mucosal capillaries of the GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT leading to GASTROINTESTINAL HEMORRHAGE and ANEMIA.
Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome
A congenital disorder that is characterized by a triad of capillary malformations (HEMANGIOMA), venous malformations (ARTERIOVENOUS FISTULA), and soft tissue or bony hypertrophy of the limb. This syndrome is caused by mutations in the VG5Q gene which encodes a strong angiogenesis stimulator.
Skin Diseases, Vascular
Skin diseases affecting or involving the cutaneous blood vessels and generally manifested as inflammation, swelling, erythema, or necrosis in the affected area.
Arnold-Chiari Malformation
A group of congenital malformations involving the brainstem, cerebellum, upper spinal cord, and surrounding bony structures. Type II is the most common, and features compression of the medulla and cerebellar tonsils into the upper cervical spinal canal and an associated MENINGOMYELOCELE. Type I features similar, but less severe malformations and is without an associated meningomyelocele. Type III has the features of type II with an additional herniation of the entire cerebellum through the bony defect involving the foramen magnum, forming an ENCEPHALOCELE. Type IV is a form a cerebellar hypoplasia. Clinical manifestations of types I-III include TORTICOLLIS; opisthotonus; HEADACHE; VERTIGO; VOCAL CORD PARALYSIS; APNEA; NYSTAGMUS, CONGENITAL; swallowing difficulties; and ATAXIA. (From Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology, 5th ed, p261; Davis, Textbook of Neuropathology, 2nd ed, pp236-46)
Embolization, Therapeutic
A method of hemostasis utilizing various agents such as Gelfoam, silastic, metal, glass, or plastic pellets, autologous clot, fat, and muscle as emboli. It has been used in the treatment of spinal cord and INTRACRANIAL ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATIONS, renal arteriovenous fistulas, gastrointestinal bleeding, epistaxis, hypersplenism, certain highly vascular tumors, traumatic rupture of blood vessels, and control of operative hemorrhage.
Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Non-invasive method of vascular imaging and determination of internal anatomy without injection of contrast media or radiation exposure. The technique is used especially in CEREBRAL ANGIOGRAPHY as well as for studies of other vascular structures.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Sturge-Weber Syndrome
A non-inherited congenital condition with vascular and neurological abnormalities. It is characterized by facial vascular nevi (PORT-WINE STAIN), and capillary angiomatosis of intracranial membranes (MENINGES; CHOROID). Neurological features include EPILEPSY; cognitive deficits; GLAUCOMA; and visual defects.
Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage
Sclerosing Solutions
Chemical agents injected into blood vessels and lymphatic sinuses to shrink or cause localized THROMBOSIS; FIBROSIS, and obliteration of the vessels. This treatment is applied in a number of conditions such as VARICOSE VEINS; HEMORRHOIDS; GASTRIC VARICES; ESOPHAGEAL VARICES; PEPTIC ULCER HEMORRHAGE.
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Abnormalities, Multiple
Cerebral Hemorrhage
Central Nervous System Venous Angioma
A vascular anomaly characterized by a radial or wedge-shaped arrangement of dilated VEINS draining into a larger vein in the brain, spinal cord, or the meninges. Veins in a venous angioma are surrounded by normal nervous tissue, unlike a CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM CAVERNOUS HEMANGIOMA that lacks intervening nervous tissue. Drainage of venous angioma is fully integrated with the body's venous system, therefore, in most cases there is no clinical signs and rare bleeding.
Angiomatosis
A condition with multiple tumor-like lesions caused either by congenital or developmental malformations of BLOOD VESSELS, or reactive vascular proliferations, such as in bacillary angiomatosis. Angiomatosis is considered non-neoplastic.
Telangiectasis
Permanent dilation of preexisting blood vessels (CAPILLARIES; ARTERIOLES; VENULES) creating small focal red lesions, most commonly in the skin or mucous membranes. It is characterized by the prominence of skin blood vessels, such as vascular spiders.
Angiography
Radiography of blood vessels after injection of a contrast medium.
Proteus Syndrome
Hamartoneoplastic malformation syndrome of uncertain etiology characterized by partial GIGANTISM of the hands and/or feet, asymmetry of the limbs, plantar hyperplasia, hemangiomas (HEMANGIOMA), lipomas (LIPOMA), lymphangiomas (LYMPHANGIOMA), epidermal NEVI; MACROCEPHALY; cranial HYPEROSTOSIS, and long-bone overgrowth. Joseph Merrick, the so-called "elephant man", apparently suffered from Proteus syndrome and not NEUROFIBROMATOSIS, a disorder with similar characteristics.
Dura Mater
The outermost of the three MENINGES, a fibrous membrane of connective tissue that covers the brain and the spinal cord.
Angiography, Digital Subtraction
A method of delineating blood vessels by subtracting a tissue background image from an image of tissue plus intravascular contrast material that attenuates the X-ray photons. The background image is determined from a digitized image taken a few moments before injection of the contrast material. The resulting angiogram is a high-contrast image of the vessel. This subtraction technique allows extraction of a high-intensity signal from the superimposed background information. The image is thus the result of the differential absorption of X-rays by different tissues.
Hemangioendothelioma
A neoplasm derived from blood vessels, characterized by numerous prominent endothelial cells that occur singly, in aggregates, and as the lining of congeries of vascular tubes or channels. Hemangioendotheliomas are relatively rare and are of intermediate malignancy (between benign hemangiomas and conventional angiosarcomas). They affect men and women about equally and rarely develop in childhood. (From Stedman, 25th ed; Holland et al., Cancer Medicine, 3d ed, p1866)
Nevus, Blue
Usually a benign tumor, that commonly presents as a solitary blue nodule with spindled MELANOCYTES covered by smooth SKIN. Several variants have been identified, one variant being malignant. The blue color is caused by large, densely packed melanocytes deep in the DERMIS of the nevus. In CHILDREN, they usually occur on the BUTTOCKS and LUMBOSACRAL REGION and are referred to as cellular blue nevi. Malignant blue nevi are more commonly found on the SCALP.
Cardiac Output, High
A state of elevated cardiac output due to conditions of either increased hemodynamic demand or reduced cardiac oxygen output. These conditions may include ANEMIA; ARTERIOVENOUS FISTULA; THYROTOXICOSIS; PREGNANCY; EXERCISE; FEVER; and ANOXIA. In time, compensatory changes of the heart can lead to pathological form of high cardiac output and eventual HEART FAILURE.
Blood Vessels
Any of the tubular vessels conveying the blood (arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, and veins).
Cyanoacrylates
Spinal Cord Diseases
Pathologic conditions which feature SPINAL CORD damage or dysfunction, including disorders involving the meninges and perimeningeal spaces surrounding the spinal cord. Traumatic injuries, vascular diseases, infections, and inflammatory/autoimmune processes may affect the spinal cord.
Cerebral Angiography
Radiography of the vascular system of the brain after injection of a contrast medium.
Vascular Headaches
Secondary headache disorders attributed to a variety of cranial or cervical vascular disorders, such as BRAIN ISCHEMIA; INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGES; and CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM VASCULAR MALFORMATIONS.
Vascular Neoplasms
Neoplasms located in the vasculature system, such as ARTERIES and VEINS. They are differentiated from neoplasms of vascular tissue (NEOPLASMS, VASCULAR TISSUE), such as ANGIOFIBROMA or HEMANGIOMA.
Intracranial Hemorrhages
Bleeding within the SKULL, including hemorrhages in the brain and the three membranes of MENINGES. The escape of blood often leads to the formation of HEMATOMA in the cranial epidural, subdural, and subarachnoid spaces.
Azygos Vein
Cerebral Arteries
The arterial blood vessels supplying the CEREBRUM.
Nervous System Malformations
Pons
The front part of the hindbrain (RHOMBENCEPHALON) that lies between the MEDULLA and the midbrain (MESENCEPHALON) ventral to the cerebellum. It is composed of two parts, the dorsal and the ventral. The pons serves as a relay station for neural pathways between the CEREBELLUM to the CEREBRUM.
Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color
Ultrasonography applying the Doppler effect, with the superposition of flow information as colors on a gray scale in a real-time image. This type of ultrasonography is well-suited to identifying the location of high-velocity flow (such as in a stenosis) or of mapping the extent of flow in a certain region.
Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation of Lung, Congenital
Malformations of Cortical Development
Abnormalities in the development of the CEREBRAL CORTEX. These include malformations arising from abnormal neuronal and glial CELL PROLIFERATION or APOPTOSIS (Group I); abnormal neuronal migration (Group II); and abnormal establishment of cortical organization (Group III). Many INBORN METABOLIC BRAIN DISORDERS affecting CNS formation are often associated with cortical malformations. They are common causes of EPILEPSY and developmental delay.
Abnormalities, Drug-Induced
Retrospective Studies
Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.
Pregnancy
Treatment Outcome
Ultrasonography, Prenatal
The visualization of tissues during pregnancy through recording of the echoes of ultrasonic waves directed into the body. The procedure may be applied with reference to the mother or the fetus and with reference to organs or the detection of maternal or fetal disease.
Diagnostic Imaging
Aneurysm
Intracranial Aneurysm
Abnormal outpouching in the wall of intracranial blood vessels. Most common are the saccular (berry) aneurysms located at branch points in CIRCLE OF WILLIS at the base of the brain. Vessel rupture results in SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE or INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGES. Giant aneurysms (>2.5 cm in diameter) may compress adjacent structures, including the OCULOMOTOR NERVE. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p841)
Epilepsy
A disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of paroxysmal brain dysfunction due to a sudden, disorderly, and excessive neuronal discharge. Epilepsy classification systems are generally based upon: (1) clinical features of the seizure episodes (e.g., motor seizure), (2) etiology (e.g., post-traumatic), (3) anatomic site of seizure origin (e.g., frontal lobe seizure), (4) tendency to spread to other structures in the brain, and (5) temporal patterns (e.g., nocturnal epilepsy). (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p313)
Receptor, TIE-2
Brain
The part of CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM that is contained within the skull (CRANIUM). Arising from the NEURAL TUBE, the embryonic brain is comprised of three major parts including PROSENCEPHALON (the forebrain); MESENCEPHALON (the midbrain); and RHOMBENCEPHALON (the hindbrain). The developed brain consists of CEREBRUM; CEREBELLUM; and other structures in the BRAIN STEM.
Spinal Cord
Urogenital Abnormalities
Syringomyelia
Longitudinal cavities in the spinal cord, most often in the cervical region, which may extend for multiple spinal levels. The cavities are lined by dense, gliogenous tissue and may be associated with SPINAL CORD NEOPLASMS; spinal cord traumatic injuries; and vascular malformations. Syringomyelia is marked clinically by pain and PARESTHESIA, muscular atrophy of the hands, and analgesia with thermoanesthesia of the hands and arms, but with the tactile sense preserved (sensory dissociation). Lower extremity spasticity and incontinence may also develop. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p1269)
Limb Deformities, Congenital
Anus, Imperforate
A congenital abnormality characterized by the persistence of the anal membrane, resulting in a thin membrane covering the normal ANAL CANAL. Imperforation is not always complete and is treated by surgery in infancy. This defect is often associated with NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS; MENTAL RETARDATION; and DOWN SYNDROME.
Follow-Up Studies
Heart Defects, Congenital
Dandy-Walker Syndrome
A congenital abnormality of the central nervous system marked by failure of the midline structures of the cerebellum to develop, dilation of the fourth ventricle, and upward displacement of the transverse sinuses, tentorium, and torcula. Clinical features include occipital bossing, progressive head enlargement, bulging of anterior fontanelle, papilledema, ataxia, gait disturbances, nystagmus, and intellectual compromise. (From Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology, 5th ed, pp294-5)
Musculoskeletal Abnormalities
Vein of Galen Malformations
Congenital arteriovenous malformation involving the VEIN OF GALEN, a large deep vein at the base of the brain. The rush of arterial blood directly into the vein of Galen, without passing through the CAPILLARIES, can overwhelm the heart and lead to CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE.
Foot Deformities, Congenital
Cardiovascular Abnormalities
Congenital, inherited, or acquired anomalies of the CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM, including the HEART and BLOOD VESSELS.
Brain Neoplasms
Neoplasms of the intracranial components of the central nervous system, including the cerebral hemispheres, basal ganglia, hypothalamus, thalamus, brain stem, and cerebellum. Brain neoplasms are subdivided into primary (originating from brain tissue) and secondary (i.e., metastatic) forms. Primary neoplasms are subdivided into benign and malignant forms. In general, brain tumors may also be classified by age of onset, histologic type, or presenting location in the brain.
Prospective Studies
Hand Deformities, Congenital
Ectromelia
Fetal Diseases
Pathophysiological conditions of the FETUS in the UTERUS. Some fetal diseases may be treated with FETAL THERAPIES.