Objective: To present the experience of vascular malformations (VM) of the central nervous system (CNS) in children obtained in our centre. Since these lesions do not often present clinically in childhood, there are few series described in the literature.
Patients and methods: We made a retrospective review of the clinical histories of patients with VM of the CNS shown on MR, angiography and/or morbid anatomy, who were aged 15 years or under. Patients with Sturge-Weber or Von Hippel-Lindau syndromes were excluded.
Results: We describe 32 patients with VM of the CNS. Twenty four had arteriovenous malformations (AVM), 5 had cavernous malformations (CM), 2 had malformations of Galeno's vein (MGV) and one patient had a congenital fusiform arterial aneurysm. Twenty two children (68%) presented clinically with hemorrhages. This was the form of presentation in 20 patients with AVM. In 4 of the 5 patients with CM the first sign was epileptic crisis. The two patients with MGV presented with macrocephaly, in one neonate it was associated with heart failure and in on older baby with hydrocephaly. The patient with a congenital arterial aneurysm presented with paroxystic episodes of facial pain.
Conclusions: The AVM are the VM which most frequently cause symptoms in childhood.