Neuroradiology
October 2, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Natural history of brain arteriovenous malformations in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: a longitudinal neuroimaging study and review of the literature.
Li B, Smith K, Corona-Macedo B, Battal B, Kasthuri R, Hung SC.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
Brain AVMs in HHT showed no hemorrhage and minimal growth on serial MRI in a small cohort.
What was studied
Retrospective longitudinal study of 12 HHT patients with bAVMs on serial MRIs (2014-2024).
Key findings
- 10 had micro-bAVMs, none growing.
- Two with niduses over 1 cm grew an average 1.61 mm/year.
- No hemorrhage over 49.78 patient-years.
Clinical relevance
Suggests frequent surveillance may be unnecessary.
Who should care
Limitations
Very small sample and short follow-up.
Consider less frequent imaging for micro-AVMs in HHT.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Purpose
The natural history of brain arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) remains poorly understood and it has been suggested that they may have a benign course different from sporadic bAVMs. Here, we present a single-center longitudinal study evaluating the growth of bAVMs over time as assessed by serial MRIs.
Methods
We performed a retrospective analysis of 44 patients with suspected bAVMs followed at an HHT Center of Excellence from 2014 to 2024. We excluded patients that did not have serial MRIs and/or poor-quality MRIs, and patients without radiographic bAVMs. Primary outcome was growth of bAVM as measured by largest dimension on T1 post-contrasted weighted sequences of serial MRIs. Secondary outcome was hemorrhage from bAVM rupture.
Results
Twelve patients (3 male, 9 female) met our criteria. Average age at first MRI was 39.9 years (range 6-65 years). Ten patients had micro-bAVMs and 3/10 of these patients had multiple micro-bAVMs. None of the micro-bAVMs showed any growth on serial MRIs. The other two patients in our study had bAVMs with niduses > 1 cm and showed an average rate of growth of 1.61 mm/year. Ultimately, none of our patients had rupture of bAVMs over an average radiographic follow-up of 4.15 years and a total of 49.78 patient years.
Conclusion
Our study suggests that bAVMs in HHT patients may have a benign natural history. We found no hemorrhages and noted minimal growth of bAVMs on serial MRIs. Our results suggest HHT patients with bAVMs may not warrant frequent surveillance imaging.
DOI
10.1007/s00234-026-04208-0
PMID
42825815
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
Want more like this?
Browse more from the feed. A free account unlocks the full feed, saving and communities.
Back to the research feed