1991 Volume 31 Issue 13 Pages 966-971
A 55-year-old male was hospitalized with severe headache. On admission, neurological examination revealed no abnormal findings. Plain computed tomography (CT) showed a slightly high-density area in the medial surface of the right parietal lobe. A marked enhancement in the same region was noted in enhanced CT. Cerebral angiography showed an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the medial surface of the right parietal lobe and two aneurysms on the right pericallosal artery which fed the AVM. In addition, a saccular aneurysm was noted at the anterior communicating artery. It was not possible to treat the AVM, two aneurysms nearby the AVM, and the unruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm simultaneously with a single craniotomy. It was therefore decided to perform surgery for the AVM and two aneurysms nearby the AVM prior to clipping of the anterior communicating artery aneurysm. Total excision of the AVM and two aneurysms nearby the AVM was performed. Cerebral angiography performed 18 days after surgery revealed no AVM and also reduction in size was noted of the anterior communicating artery aneurysm. Three months later, repeated cerebral angiography showed disappearance of the aneurysm. This was further confirmed 15 months after surgery by angiography. From the literature, 117 cases of coexistence of AVM and aneurysms of the brain were collected and classified into three types according to their anatomical and hemodynamic correlation. It is suggested that hemodynamic stress, due to increased blood flow caused by the AVM, played a major role in the development of the aneurysm. Therefore, a conservative attitude toward operation on an aneurysm on the feeding system of the AVM may be justified, provided both vascular lesions cannot be treated with a single craniotomy.
