Developmental Venous Anomalies and Arteriovenous Malformations Coordinately Drained by the Internal Cerebral Vein: Clues to Pathogenesis.

An intimate understanding of dynamic angioarchitectural development of vascular malformations involving the intracranium may provide mechanistic insight into the incipient pathogenesis of these lesions. The authors report two patients harboring cerebral developmental venous anomaly (DVA) and three patients harboring sporadically developing cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVM) in whom the internal cerebral vein (ICV) represented the chief venous egress route. Onyx embolization successfully achieved complete obliteration in all patients harboring cerebral AVMs. Two female patients presenting with a chief complaint of chronic headaches was found to harbor deeply situated DVA draining via the lateral group of direct lateral vein (DLV) egress via the ICV. Three female patients presenting with chronic headaches or intraparenchymal hemorrhage were found to possess cerebral AVMs deriving arterial feeders from the anterior cerebral arteries, with major venous drainage into the ICV via the direct lateral veins or terminal vein. Common drainage of DVAs and AVMs may indicate a common originate genesis. This pattern of venous drainage in the context of seeking to develop a cohesive and coherent model illumining our understanding of the mechanistic incipient pathogenesis of AVMs.