My wife got diagnosed with Large AVM and we were told that she will need to go through 2 stages of embolization and a open surgery after that.
Open brain surgery seems very scary, looking for other's experience who got their AVMs treated without the surgery.
Below is the details from her angiogram, if it makes sense for anyone
##### AVM nidi measures approx: 3.5*4*7cm and has an elliptical shape with the greatest dimension going from anterior to posterior. AVM is located in right occipital lobe fed by multiple right PCA branches.
Sorry to hear of your wife's diagnoses. I also had the embolization followed by the open surgery. I wondered the same with mine and was told that the embolization was to minimize the bleeding and make my surgery safer over, they made it clear that with mine the embolization would not stop my hemoraging. Not sure if this is the same in your wifes case but maybe it will give you some insight as to where they are coming from.
Embolization is generally done to nmake craniotomy easier and safer. It's not usually a total fix for the AVM. I'm not a doctor, however so ask the neurosurgeon. After my bleed I had several embolizations before my craniotomy. Best wishes to you and your wife.
thanks marine.. we were told the same reason that embolizations will minimize the bleeding.. How long did that took you to recover from all these? especially after surgery..
Gould, it took about 6 weeks after surgery for me to recover to the point of some normal functions most people bounce back pretty quick. The sight where I had my surgery is still not calm to this day (but that is very uncommon). They will more than likely send her through rehab after.