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Venous Angioma - Causes And Treatment of Venous Angioma

What is Venous Angioma?

The term angioma means a noncancerous, vascular tumor that's made up of blood or lymph vessels. Venous vascular malformations, also known as venous angiomas or, more properly, developmental venous anomalies (DVAs), represent congenital anatomically variant pathways in the normal venous drainage of an area of the brain. A venous angioma in the basal ganglia is a malformation of the veins that drain blood from the brain. This malformation is present at birth (congenital).

Commonly called venous angiomas for many years, the term developmental venous anomaly has been advocated as a more appropriate term because the entity does not consist of abnormally formed vessels; it may be merely a dilation of existing pathways. DVAs provide normal venous drainage for a section of brain and removal or thrombosis results in venous infarction and/or hemorrhage in that area. Most cases are found incidentally and although isolated reports of hemorrhage associated with a DVA exist, the incidence of associated symptoms is extremely low.

What are the causes of Venous Angioma?

In most cases, venous angiomas cause no signs or symptoms. They're often found incidentally on brain imaging studies done for some other reason. Unlike many other vascular malformations, venous angiomas rarely bleed. Treatment usually isn't recommended because it may lead to complications. These malformations can affect other areas in the brain as well.

Treatment for Venous Angioma.

Treatment for Venous Angioma is not recomended because it can be very complicated and also it could damage other parts of the brain.The brain’s venous network acts as a conduit to drain blood from the brain so that this blood can be re-oxygenated by the lungs. Even though DVAs are anomalous structures, they are fully integrated with the body’s venous system and provide the brain with normal blood drainage function.

Diagnosis is either via an incidental finding during imaging of other lesions, or during autopsy. Conventional computed tomograms (CTs) may not always document DVAs sufficiently, although newer high resolution CT scans with thin cuts and contract enhancement, and CT angiogram (CTA) reconstructions can image these lesions, as well as MRI/MRA and conventional angiograms. With these non-invasive modalities, the vast majority of suspected DVAs should not be subjected to the risk of catheter angiography, except in rare instances where a true AVM may be suspected clinically.