DONATE NOW
  • MENU

Monitoring the AVM (No Treatment)

Sometimes, when someone has a brain AVM, it’s actually better to not do any special treatment and just keep an eye on it. This is because if doctors try to remove the AVM, it could be risky and cause more harm than good. So, they choose to monitor the AVM because that is the safest choice for the patient. Doctors use things like scans to check if the AVM is growing or causing any issues. 

If bleeding in the brain happens in an AVM that is being monitored, the doctors might now have a chance to treat the AVM, even if they couldn’t do it before. This is because of several reasons. The bleeding can be a signal the AVM is more of a problem than the doctors originally thought.  The bleeding shows the medical professionals they need to fix the problem to keep the person safe. Additionally, when there is bleeding in the brain, it may create a pathway for doctors to get to the AVM where they couldn’t before. Doctors don’t want to cut into and damage healthy brain tissue to remove an AVM because it might cause permanent deficits. But, if a brain bleed has already damaged the tissue and it is not heathy anymore, the risk of treating an AVM that was too risky before the bleed may now be reduced.
☰ Menu
× Close Menu