Clinical characteristic of spinal vascular malformation in pediatric patients

Objective  Seventy-two pediatric spinal vascular malformation cases were reviewed and the characteristics of their clinical symptoms, diagnoses, and therapies were analyzed. Materials and methods  A thorough overview was compiled examining patient sex, age, location, history, development, treatment, clinical, and anatomical results. Results  Spinal cord arteriovenous malformation was the most common (44.4%) subtype to be seen in these pediatric patients, while subdural perimedullary arteriovenous fistula (23.6%) was the second, followed by Cobb’s syndrome (13.9%) and intramedullary cavernous angioma (5.6%). No spinal dual arteriovenous fistulae were found in infants. The highest incidence was seen during the infant and adolescent periods. Sixty-nine cases were treated by surgeries, embolizations, or a combination of both, and 71.5% of them had improved. Conclusions  Early diagnosis and treatment are required. Surgery and embolization, or a combination of the two, are the current candidates for treatment.