Cavernous and Venous Malformations

Intracerebral vascular lesions are categorized into arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), cavernous malformations, capillary telangiectasia, and venous malformations. Pediatric cavernous malformations are well recognized, with most series reporting roughly 25% of cases presenting in children. Overall 13% of our own patients had a family history of cavernous malformation, and of these familial cases 50% had multiple lesions. Gene responsible for cavernous malformations mapped to chromosome 7q. There has been a well-documented association between the administration of cranial radiation therapy and the subsequent development of lesions similar to cavernous malformations, particularly in children. The larger pediatric series have shown a bimodal distribution of age at presentation with a peak in the under 3 years group and a second between 11 to 16 years.