De Novo Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation:

SUMMARY: We describe a rare case of a de novo cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in a 9-year-old girl. MR imaging at 6 years of age demonstrated band heterotopia. Follow-up MR imaging 3 years later demonstrated a new 3.5-cm AVM in the left parietol-occipital region, confirmed by conventional angiography. This report, along with limited previous reports, suggests that AVMs can be acquired lesions and that AVM development is a dynamic process extending into the postnatal period. An arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is a vascular mal-formation characterized by arterio-venous shunt through a collection of tortuous vessels without an intervening capil-lary bed.1 The pathogenesis of AVMs is currently unknown. Although they are traditionally thought to be congenital in origin, with an initiating event occurring in early embryologic development, some have suggested a more dynamic develop-mental process.2,3 We present a case of de novo AVM devel-opment in a region of the brain without abnormal vascularity on prior MR imaging and briefly review the literature on de novo AVM development and pathogenesis