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Stanford Health Care

Arteriovenous Malformation

How We Can Help You

Arteriovenous malformation is an abnormal set of connections between arteries and veins which may result in pain, swelling, a mass that disrupts normal development, or the heart overworking to circulate blood. It’s a complex disorder, requiring personalized treatment by a highly trained, specialized team – one that has experience in both interventional radiology and microsurgery.

What We Offer You For Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM)

  • Globally recognized expertise from a fellowship-trained team that specializes in treating complex conditions such as AVMs. 
  • Precise diagnosis options including the most advanced 3D and high-definition imaging technology to provide detailed information for treatment planning.
  • Collaborative approach that bring together specialists who treat diseases of the brain, spine, and related blood vessels.
  • Advanced treatment options including CyberKnife robotic stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), radiation therapy, minimally invasive procedures such as embolization, and surgery.
  • Comprehensive support services including case management, logistical support from International Medical Services, and Guest Services for help during your visit.
  • Active research program to discover less invasive, more convenient, and lower-cost screening tests that tell us how people might respond to treatment.

AVM Treatment

AVMs are a complex vascular disease, requiring specialized team and the latest imaging technology to effectively treat them. Our team has experience in delivering a full range of treatment options, including microsurgery, embolization, and CyberKnife, to close off the abnormal vessels.

Our expertise helps us determine the best treatment options for you. You may need a combination of treatments, including CyberKnife stereotactic radiosurgery. 

Stanford developed the CyberKnife system and is regarded as a global leader in CyberKnife standards of care.

We partner with the Vascular Anomalies Clinic at Stanford Children’s Health to treat children with AVM.

Radiosurgery with CyberKnife

For small AVMs that are difficult to access surgically, your doctor may recommend radiation treatment with the CyberKnife system. CyberKnife is a noninvasive, robotic delivery system for radiation therapy. It uses real-time imaging to deliver the maximum safe dose of radiation from different angles, directly to the target tissue. CyberKnife damages blood vessels in the AVM, causing them to scar and gradually close off.

Embolization

Using a minimally invasive procedure, an interventional radiologist places a glue-like material into the affected vessel to block it off. The doctor guides a thin, flexible tube called a catheter from a large artery in the thigh to the affected vessel. The doctor then injects the embolizing material through the catheter into the vessel to block blood flow to the AVM.

Microsurgery

Your doctor may recommend microsurgery either alone or after treatment with CyberKnife or embolization. With microsurgery, the surgeon accesses the brain by performing a craniotomy to temporarily remove a small portion of the skull. Using a specialized operating microscope for guidance, the surgeon stops the blood flow to the AVM and removes it.

Clinical Trials

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Open Clinical Trials

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Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may have access to the latest, advanced clinical trials.

Open trials refer to studies that are currently recruiting participants or that may recruit participants in the near future. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but similar studies may open in the future. Ask your doctor or clinical trials coordinator about available trials that may be additional options for your care.

To learn more about the clinical trials we offer, contact Maria Coburn at 650-736-9551. 

Closed trials are not currently enrolling but may open in the future.

What Is an AVM?

About AVM

An AVM is an abnormal cluster of blood vessels connecting arteries and veins in the brain or spinal cord. It is rare, affecting less than one percent of the population.

Oxygen-rich blood flows from the heart to the brain and spinal cord through arteries. Veins carry oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart and lungs. Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that connect arteries and veins where they transfer oxygen to brain and spinal cord tissues.

An AVM disrupts the normal exchange of blood between arteries and veins, preventing enough oxygen from reaching brain and spinal cord tissue. Other possible complications of AVMs include:

  • Hemorrhage: Bleeding in the brain or spinal cord
  • Aneurysm: Bulge in a wall of a blood vessel, caused by increased pressure, that may rupture (burst)
  • Tissue damage: Damage to areas of the brain or spinal cord caused by compression from the AVM
  • Seizures: Abnormal electric activity of the brain.

Our Clinics

CyberKnife Program at the Neuroscience Health Center

Our expert team provides exceptional care for people with AVM, brain and spine tumors, certain cancers, and other conditions. Our expertise with CyberKnife enables us to effectively treat conditions that other centers consider untreatable.

213 Quarry Road
 Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: 650-725-0084 Getting Here »

RELATED CLINICS

213 Quarry Road
 Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: 650-723-6469
213 Quarry Road
 Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: 650-723-6469
Make An Appointment

To schedule an appointment, please call: 650-723-6459