Arteriovenous malformation of the brain: imaging by postmortem angiography

Abstract

Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) of the brain, detected in 0.06% of medicolegal autopsies in Helsinki, was imaged in four cases by postmortem angiography using contrast medium which vulcanised at room temperature. Postmortem angiography visualized the location, extent and type of the malformation as well as its feeding vessels. Angiography was also useful in differentiating between AVM and cerebral artery aneurysm as a cause of haemorrhage and in identifying vascular complications following neurosurgical resection of malformations.