Duke's Cerebrovascular Center offers the entire spectrum of treatment for spinal arteriovenous malformation (AVM).
Spinal AVMs are essentially a short circuit where high pressure blood going into arteries gets channeled directly into low pressure veins that are supposed to drain the spinal cord, causing blood to back up inside the veins.
This rare disease can cause spinal injury by decreasing the amount of blood available to the spinal cord, causing compression of the spinal cord with the engorged veins, or causing bleeding into the spinal cord.
Diagnosis
If patients have either sudden or progressive loss of function in their arms or legs, they are suspected of having a spinal AVM. We use a spinal MRI to exclude more commons diseases such as degenerative spinal discs and tumors.
Once we exclude other possible problems, we use spinal angiography to confirm that the patient does have spinal AVM.
Treatment
The treatment of spinal AVMs is quite complex, but, at Duke, we offer the entire spectrum of treatment for spinal AVMs, including embolization, surgery, and radiosurgery.
Embolization
Embolization is a minimally invasive technique where doctors use a variety of substances like glue, onyx, and wire coils to block off the abnormal blood vessels that flow to AVM.
We continually update and change our embolization methods in order to use the most current tools and techniques and to ensure our patients receive the safest, most effective care.
Surgery
If embolization is not a suitable form of treatment, we can surgically remove the AVM and reconstruct the spine in order to aid blood flow.
Radiosurgery
In radiosurgery, you will be given a single, high dose of radiation that specifically targets the AVM.
Radiosurgery is best performed on smaller AVMs and is often done in combination with embolization.
Appointments
For information about scheduling an appointment with a specific doctor, visit the Contact Us page.
Physicians
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Locations
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