Early stroke and cerebral vasculopathy in children with facial hemangiomas and PHACE association. (65/221)

PHACE association is a rare neurocutaneous syndrome that may include posterior fossa malformations, hemangiomas, arterial anomalies, coarctation of the aorta and cardiac defects, eye abnormalities, and sternal defects. The arterial abnormalities may be developmental or acquired and usually involve the cervical and cerebral vasculature. We believe that infants with PHACE association are at increased risk of arterial ischemic stroke and describe 5 infants with facial hemangiomas and structural and acquired arterial anomalies, all of whom suffered an arterial ischemic stroke during infancy.  (+info)

Transarterial coil embolization of the venous component of aggressive type 4 dural arteriovenous fistulas. (66/221)

We report 2 patients with aggressive intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulae that were repaired via percutaneous, transarterial coil embolization of the venous outlets.  (+info)

Multidetector CT angiography in diagnosing type I and type IVA spinal vascular malformations. (67/221)

Multidetector CT (MDCT) angiography is an imaging technique that can provide high-resolution and high-contrast images; however, published reports of MDCT angiography in the evaluation of spinal vascular malformations are limited. We present 2 cases in which MDCT angiography led to diagnosis of a type I (spinal dural arteriovenous fistula) in one and type IVA (perimedullary spinal cord simple arteriovenous fistula fed by a single arterial feeder) spinal vascular malformation, both confirmed by conventional angiography. MDCT angiography can localize the feeding vessel and the fistula, thus greatly reducing the amount of time required for conventional angiography.  (+info)

Subcortical calcification on CT in dural arteriovenous fistula with cortical venous reflux. (68/221)

We report 3 cases of dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF) with cortical venous reflux (CVR) presenting calcification in the cortico-medullary junction at the bottom of cerebral sulci on unenhanced CT. This likely results from chronic venous congestion with resulting impaired perfusion of the involved parenchyma. dAVF with CVR, which is known to have poor prognosis without treatment, should be included in the differential diagnosis of subcortical calcification on CT.  (+info)

Are the distributions of variations of circle of Willis different in different populations? - Results of an anatomical study and review of literature. (69/221)

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have proposed correlation between variants of the cerebral arterial circle (also known as circle of Willis) and some cerebrovascular diseases. Differences in the incidence of these diseases in different populations have also been investigated. The study of variations in the anatomy of the cerebral arterial circle may partially explain differences in the incidence of some of the cerebrovascular diseases in different ethnic or racial groups. While many studies have investigated the variations in the anatomy of each segment of the cerebral arterial circle, few have addressed the variants of the cerebral arterial circle as a whole. Similarly, the frequency of occurrence of such variants in different ethnic or racial groups has not been compared. METHODS: 102 brains of recently deceased Iranian males were dissected, in order to observe variations in the anatomy of the cerebral arterial circle. The dissection process was recorded on film and digitized. One resized picture from each dissection, showing complete circle has been made available online. The variations of the circle as whole and segmental variations were compared with previous studies. RESULTS: On the whole, the frequencies of the different variants of the entire cerebral arterial circle and segmental variations were comparable with previous studies.More specifically variants with uni- and bilateral hypoplasia of posterior communicating arteries were the most common in our study, similar to the previous works. No hypoplasia of the precommunicating part of the left anterior cerebral artery (A1), aplasia of A1 or the precommunicating part of the posterior cerebral artery (P1) was seen. In 3% both right and left posterior communcating arteries were absent. CONCLUSION: The anatomical variations found in the cerebral arterial circle of the Iranian males in the current study were not significantly different to those of more diverse populations reported in the literature. While taking into account potential confounding factors, the authors conclude that based on available studies, there is no evidence suggesting that the distributions of the variations of cerebral arterial circle differ in different populations.  (+info)

Safety of cerebral digital subtraction angiography in children: complication rate analysis in 241 consecutive diagnostic angiograms. (70/221)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Catheter-based cerebral angiography remains an important diagnostic tool in the pediatric population, particularly considering the currently growing interest in diagnosing and treating cerebrovascular disorders in children. There are no recent estimates of the complication rate associated with modern diagnostic digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in the pediatric population. The purpose of this study was to estimate the rate of complications occurring during cerebral angiography in children. METHODS: Data from 241 consecutive pediatric cerebral angiograms performed at a single institution were entered into an institutional review board-approved database. Information on patient demographics, DSA indication, neurovascular diagnosis, and intra procedural and postprocedural complications was collected. RESULTS: Our population included 115 boys and 90 girls, with age ranging from 1 week to 18 years (mean+/-SD, 12+/-5 years). All angiograms were technically successful. No intraprocedural complication was noted; in particular, there was no occurrence of iatrogenic vessel injury (dissection) and no transient or permanent neurological deficit secondary to a thromboembolic event. One child with a complex dural arteriovenous fistula experienced a fatal intracranial rehemorrhage secondary to a posterior fossa varix rupture 3 hours after completion of an uneventful diagnostic angiogram. The rates of intraprocedural and postprocedural complications were therefore 0.0% (95% CI, 0.0% to 1.4%) and 0.4% (95% CI, 0.012% to 2.29%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of immediate complications occurring during diagnostic cerebral angiography in children is very low. No intraprocedural complication was documented in the reported series. DSA performed by experienced angiographers is a safe procedure that can provide critical diagnostic information.  (+info)

Dural arteriovenous malformation in a child with Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba Syndrome. (71/221)

Intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are a rare feature of Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome (BRRS). Palencia et al reported a case of intracranial arteriovenous malformation in a child with BRRS in a Spanish journal in 1986. However, the occurrence of dural AVM in a patient with BRRS has not since been addressed in the literature. Advancements in imaging and therapeutic embolization, and the ability now to screen for phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) mutations allow us to detect and manage these patients sooner. Early detection of intracranial AVMs is necessary because of the risk for progression to venous ischemia and resultant neurologic damage. We present the case of a child with headaches and periorbital venous congestion due to a dural AVM with bilateral venous outflow occlusion who was treated with multiple embolizations, now with interval remission of headache symptoms.  (+info)

Hypoplastic vertebral artery: frequency and associations with ischaemic stroke territory. (72/221)

BACKGROUND: In patients with posterior inferior cerebellar artery infarction (PICAI) or lateral medullary infarction (LMI), the ipsilateral vertebral artery is often hypoplastic and therefore at an increased risk of ischaemic stroke. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequency and clinical relevance of hypoplastic vertebral artery (HVA) in patients with ischaemic stroke with or without vertebral artery territory and in normal healthy people. METHODS: 529 patients with ischaemic stroke, including vertebral artery territory infarction (LMI or PICAI), were classified according to their stroke location (303 anterior circulation strokes (ACS) and 226 posterior circulation strokes (PCS)) by MRI. The frequency of HVA, defined as a diameter of < or = 2 mm by magnetic resonance angiography, was measured in comparison with 306 normal healthy people. RESULTS: 185 patients (35.2%) from the cohort had HVA (3.4%, bilaterally). Patients with PCS showed a higher rate of HVA than those with ACS (45.6% vs 27.1%, p<0.001). The HVA frequency of those with ACS was similar to that of the normal group (26.5%). Of the 112 patients with vertebral artery territory stroke, 58 (51.8%) had HVA (bilateral HVA in 10), and all of 48 showed ipsilateral HVA territory stroke. In 102 patients with vertebral artery territory stroke, classification of the ipsilateral vertebral artery as hypoplastic (vs dominant or symmetric) tended to predict the involvement of multiple and extensive lesions, and a higher incidence of steno-occlusion (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: HVA is not rare in the normal population, and is frequent in patients with PCS. People with HVA may have a high probability of PCS, with atherosclerotic susceptibility and ipsilateral lesions in the vertebral artery territory.  (+info)