Hi everyone. I've been thinking a lot lately about seeing if my son's embolizations can be removed. It seems like it would make his(and mine) life easier. He'd be able to have a MRI(easier diagnosis for other things),weight issue might go away(high ICP+ no food= more pounds), less headaches, etc. He's had his embos for almost 12 years but he has A LOT of them: 15 ounces worth. They're roughly the size of a golf ball on his Vein of Galen in the back of his head. His original AVM was 4in x 4in x 3in with an aneurysm the size of my fist. He's the only one to survive completely intact with 1 this big at the time. Has anyone had either a Vein of Galen AVM that was emboed then resected or had really old emboss removed? Really could use some input and/or opinions before I call the doctor and get my hopes up.
Hi Erin,
I've never heard of anyone having their embolizations 'removed'. It might be possible, don't know.
My understanding (which could be flawed) is that Drs do embolizations to seal off parts of an AVM, reducing the overall size. Once the AVM is smaller as a result of the embos, the rest might be able to be surgically removed. Perhaps I'm wrong, but when that occurs, I think they just cut out the remaining AVM not including the embo.
It seems to be that if you remove the embo, you'd have to surgically seal off the vessels where the glue was, which could lead to other issues.
Do you suspect the size or amount of glue is causing an issue? The size of his AVM sounds huge, so I can imagine it might take a lot to seal it of.
Best wishes,
Ron, KS
Ron, a fair number of non-brain AVMers have had coils removed, especially if they have a lot of them, and I believe some people with brain AVMs have had them removed, too. Sometimes coils can cause problems, like infections. I too don't know much about this, though, and I hope some of our memmbers will know more.
Thanks for clarifying that for me Dancermom. I should always preface my comments with "my experience is only with brain AVMs", cuz I know some of the info is different for non=brain AVMs (such as they can reappear after surgery, etc).
Hope others can help add more to this.
Best wishes,
Ron, KS