Don’t Treat Arteriovenous Malformation to Cut Down Stroke Risk: Study

A study has suggested that if a person is suffering from arteriovenous malformation (AVM), the doctor should only treat its symptoms and not the AVM or the person faces a higher risk of suffering from stroke. AVM is a condition which causes blood vessels in the brain to tangle. The condition is caused by abnormal connections between arteries and veins in the brain.

The doctors found that over a period of 12 years, patients who preferred to continue with the condition were less likely to suffer from stroke or die from related causes.

AVM affects around 1 in 2,000 people. And such persons always face the risk that the tangles can burst and bleed into the brain any time, leading to a stroke.

Professor Rustam Al-Shahi Salman, MRC Senior Clinical Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and a consultant neurologist, said, “Many patients feel that living with AVM is like living with a time bomb in your head that could explode at any time. Patients and their doctors face difficult choices when deciding whether or not to pursue treatment. We have found that, for most people whose AVM has not caused a bleed, the risks of treatment exceed the risks of leaving it alone over 12 years.”

Source-Medindia