A study of clinical manifestations of patients with cavernous malformation

Venous anomalies are the most common vascular malformation of the central nervous system in adult, it can form anywhere in the body, but are most likely to cause symptoms when they grow in the brain or spinal cord. Common symptoms include headaches or seizures. Experiencing symptoms depend on where the lesions grow and how many of the lesions are present. Most of the time, these formations cause no problems. In some people, knowing the clinical signs and possible future complications in the disease can help to treat the disease and diagnose it.

In this Prospective cohort study, 41 patients with cavernous malformation who were diagnosed by neurologist referred to Sina Hospital in Hamedan City, Iran, from 2016 to 2017 were studied. Patients' information about their referrals during the follow-up period were collected and the results were reported.

This study was conducted on 20 (48.79%) females and 21 (51.21%) males with the mean ages of 50±2 years. The most common manifestation of disease was seizure in 20 patients (48.78%). Most of these lesions were found in parietal lobe in 11 cases (26.82%) and then in the frontal lobe with 8 cases (19.51%). In terms of complications during follow-ups, 16 patients (39.2%) were uncomplicated, 16 patients had 48 episodes of seizure, seven patients had nine episodes of hemorrhage, two patients with hemiparesis, one patient with headache and one patient with sixth cranial nerve paralysis. According to the associated disease and risk factors, nine patients (26.82%) had high blood pressure, five patients (12.19%) had meningioma and three patients (7.31%) had diabetes. Seven patients (17.07%) had a positive family history that symptoms and complications in this patients are higher than the rest of patients.

In this study, most of the cases are sporadic and the most common symptom was seizure. The most common symptom in supratentorial lesions were seizure whereas in multiple and infratentorial lesions were bleeding. Five patients were involved with meningioma which could be considered in more studies with more patients in future.