Positioning and Approach to Medial Occipital Arteriovenous Malformations

Abstract

Four cases of cerebral arteriovenous malformations of the medial occipital lobe were successfully removed 1) with the patients in a prone position and 2) with microsurgical techniques. In this paper, the authors describe the details on positioning the patient on the operating table, keeping the head just above the heart level and rotating the table laterally when needed, and the microsurgical approach through an unilateral occipital craniotomy to those deep-seated AVMs with their unique vascular supply and drainage in the posterior end of the longitudinal cerebral fissure.