The characteristics of transcranial color-coded duplex sonography in children with cerebral arteriovenous malformation presenting with headache.

OBJECTIVE

Cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are uncommon lesions. They are most often presented in childhood as intracranial hemorrhage. The aim of this report is to present the use of transcranial color-coded duplex sonography (TCCS) in detection of AVMs in children suffering headache.

METHODS

This report describes five pediatric patients with headache and cerebral AVM which were initially discovered by TCCS. Diagnosis was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging and digital subtraction angiography.

RESULTS

In all patients, TCCS showed saccular enlargement of the vessels with a multicolored pattern corresponding to the different directions of blood flow. Spectral analysis showed significantly high flow systolic and diastolic velocities and low resistance index.

CONCLUSIONS

In this report, we describe TCCS as a valuable non-invasive, harmless, low-cost, widely available method for the detection and follow-up of hemodynamic changes of AVMs in children with headache, before and after treatment.