Awake Microsurgical Resection for a Precentral Gyrus Arteriovenous Malformation-Three-Dimensional Video and Anatomic Landmarks.

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are complex, heterogeneous, and uncommon neurovascular disorders that frequently manifest in young adults. Parenchymal AVMs are thought to be congenital, but this has been recently questioned in the literature.1,2 AVMs can change over time and cause focal neurological signs or neurocognitive deficits.3 The clinical presentation of an AVM is variable and depends mainly on the occurrence of bleeding as well as its location, size, and ability to take flow from adjacent areas.4 AVMs can be treated by a single modality or a combination of different modalities. According to the Expert Consensus on the Management of Brain Arteriovenous Malformations, neurosurgery may be the best option for Spetzler-Martin grade 2 AVMs.5 However, the treatment of these lesions when located in eloquent areas, especially in the central lobe, is controversial. Awake craniotomy allows identification of eloquent gyrus and can potentially facilitate resection with functional preservation. An alternative is stereotactic radiosurgery, but a qualitative comparative analysis revealed higher obliteration rate with awake AVM excision compared with stereotactic radiosurgery.6 Awake craniotomy was the earliest surgical procedure known, and it has become fashionable again. It was used in the past for surgical management of intractable epilepsy, but its indications are increasing, and it is a widely recognized technique for resection of mass lesions involving the eloquent cortex and for deep brain stimulation.7 Its application for resection of vascular lesions, including AVMs, is still limited. In the Video, we present a case of a cerebral AVM of the precentral gyrus in which we achieved complete resection with awake microsurgical treatment without any neurological sequelae for the patient.

Awake Microsurgical Resection for Optochiasmatic Cavernous Malformation.

Cavernous malformations (CM) affect approximately 0.5% of the population, with only a limited portion being located in the optic nerve and chiasma. The clinical presentation is determined by their locations. In the optochiasmatic CM, the acute visual disturbance is the most common presentation. Chronically, many show a progressive visual loss, chronic headache, and pituitary disturbances. The differential diagnosis includes optic glioma, arteriovenous malformations, aneurysm, craniopharyngioma, pituitary apoplexy, and inflammatory conditions. In Video 1, we present the case of a 39-year-old woman with a history of a hemorrhagic optochiasmatic cavernoma in 2016, who started using propranolol to reduce the lesion and symptoms of visual loss. Moreover, the first microsurgical resection of the cavernoma and evacuation of the hematoma were performed in the same year. Owing to evolvement from a partial to a total vision loss in the left eye and presentation of new symptoms in the right eye, the patient underwent microsurgical resection. The surgery was performed sequentially. An awake craniotomy was performed to monitor the chiasma and right optic nerve. The postoperative magnetic resonance imaging showed complete resection of the CM, and the patient fully recovered. The patient signed the institutional consent form, stating that he or she accepts the procedure and allows the use of his or her images and videos for any type of medical publications in conferences and/or scientific articles.

Cognitive performance in patients with cerebral arteriovenous malformation.

OBJECTIVE: A cerebral arteriovenous malformation (cAVM) can change over time and cause symptoms, but clinical studies tend to define only the patients with ruptured cAVMs as symptomatic and do not consider neurocognitive aspects prior to neurosurgical intervention. The objective of this study was to describe the neurocognitive function of patients with ruptured and unruptured cAVMs according to the Spetzler-Martin (SM) grade, flow status, and anatomical topography. METHODS: In this blinded cross-sectional study, 70 patients of both sexes and ages 18-60 years were evaluated using the Brazilian Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery Neupsilin. RESULTS: Of the 70 patients with cAVMs, 50 (71.4%) demonstrated deficits in at least one of the eight neurocognitive domains surveyed, although they did not exhibit neurological deficits. cAVMs in the temporal lobe were associated with memory deficits compared with the general population. The SM grade was not significantly associated with the results of patients with unruptured cAVMs. However, among patients with ruptured cAVMs, there were deficits in working memory in those with high-grade (SM grade) cAVMs and deficits in executive function (verbal fluency) in those with low-grade cAVMs (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that patients with untreated cAVMs, either ruptured or unruptured, already exhibit neurocognitive deficits, even the patients without other neurological symptoms. However, the scales used to evaluate disability in the main clinical studies, such as A Randomized Trial of Unruptured Brain Arteriovenous Malformations (ARUBA), do not assess neurocognitive alterations and therefore disregard any deficits that may affect quality of life. The authors' finding raises an important question about the effects of interventional treatment because it reinforces the hypothesis that cognitive alterations may be preexisting and not determined by interventions.