Klin Onkol 1991; 4(6): 167-170.
Summary: Arteriovenous malformations of the brain (AVM's) are clusters of abnormal arteries and veins that shunt blood from the arterial system to the venous system. They are thought to be congenital lesions. Surgical excision is the established method of the treatment of AVM. Depending on the site and size of the AVM, the surgical risk may sometimes exceed the natural risk. In these situation ofther treatment methods such as radiation therapy and trans-arterial embolization may become interesting alternatives. In 1951, Leksell defined as radiosurgery the technique of delivering collimated beams of external radiation stereotactically guided to small targets in the brain. Radiosurgery techniques permit high doses of single fraction irradiation to be administered to small volumes (AVM or tumor) with relative sparing of surrounding brain tissue. One disadvantage of stereotactic radiation is the prolonged latency period before complete obliteration. A second disadvantage of the treatment is the risk of delayed complications. The linear accelerator-stereotactic technique appears to be a valid and inexpensiver alternative to radiosurgery with the Gamma knife of with heavy-charged particle beams. Stereotactic radiosurgery has been used to treat intracranial tumours such as pituitary adenomas, acoustic schwannomas, meningiomas and solitary brain metastases.
