Object: The object of this study was to assess outcomes in patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) treated by Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS); lesions were stratified by size, symptomatology, and Spetzler-Martin (S-M) grade.
Methods: The authors performed a retrospective analysis of 102 patients treated for an AVM with single-dose or staged-dose SRS between 1993 and 2004. Lesions were grouped by S-M grade, as hemorrhagic or nonhemorrhagic, and as small (< 3 cm) or large (≥ 3 cm). Outcomes included death, morbidity (new neurological deficit, new-onset seizure, or hemorrhage/rehemorrhage), nidus obliteration, and Karnofsky Performance Scale score.
Results: The mean follow-up was 8.5 years (range 5-16 years). Overall nidus obliteration (achieved in 75% of patients) and morbidity (19%) correlated with lesion size and S-M grade. For S-M Grade I-III AVMs, nonhemorrhagic and hemorrhagic combined, treatment yielded obliteration rates of 100%, 89%, and 86%, respectively; high functional status (Karnofsky Performance Scale Score ≥ 80); and 1% mortality. For S-M Grade IV and V AVMs, outcomes were less favorable, with obliteration rates of 54% and 0%, respectively. The AVMs that were not obliterated had a mean reduction in nidus volume of 69% (range 35%-96%). On long-term follow-up, 10% of patients experienced hemorrhage/rehemorrhage (6% mortality rate), which correlated with lesion size and S-M grade; the mean interval to hemorrhage was 81 months.
Conclusions: For patients with S-M Grade I-III AVMs, SRS offers outcomes that are favorable and that, except for the timing of obliteration, appear to be comparable to surgical outcomes reported for the same S-M grades. Staged-dose SRS results in lesion obliteration in half of patients with S-M Grade IV lesions.