Benefits of embolization without surgery for cerebral arteriovenous malformations.

Embolization may be the primary and exclusive treatment of cerebral arteriovenous malformations. To evaluate its benefits, a group of 27 patients was studied for the incidence of hemorrhages, headaches, seizures, and neurologic deficits, both before and after Silastic sphere embolization. Questionnaires to patients and physicians were used. Embolization was found to decrease the frequency of headaches in most patients with this symptom, but had no effect on the frequency of seizures when patients in whom medical therapy was altered were excluded nor on the progression or incidence of neurologic signs and symptoms. The effect of embolization on the incidence of recurrent hemorrhages is as yet undetermined.