Introduction: Risk of further haemorrhage in patients suffering from arteriovenous malformation (AVM) would be eliminated only if complete obliteration of the AVM is obtained. Therefore, these patients frequently need long-term follow-up. Conventional catheter angiography (CCA) with a risk of 0.5 %.to 1.6 % of significant neurological complications has traditionally been used for this purpose. However, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3T may be a safer alternative. The aim of this study was to evaluate if MRI at 3T can accurately evaluate closure of AVM in 2 years after stereotactic radiosurgery.
Methods: Twenty-three patients with both MRI at 3T and a CCA study were examined. The residual AVMs were evaluated by MRI at 3T against CCA in a prospective study.
Results: The time interval between radiosurgery and neuroimaging was on average of 25 months (range, 15-30 months) for MRI study and 33 months (range, 25-46 months) for CCA study. Ten patients showed closure of the AVM on MRI, all of which were confirmed on CCA.
Conclusion: There was a complete agreement between late MRI at 3T scan and CCA in evaluation of AVM patency.