Background: Brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is an important cause of hemorrhagic stroke in young adults, which can lead to severe neurological impairment. The registry of Multimodality treatment for brain ArTeriovenous malformation in mainland CHina (MATCH) is a national prospective registry to identify the natural history of AVMs in Asian population; to investigate traditional and emerging hemorrhagic predictors; and to explore the superiority of the multidisciplinary assessment in improving the long-term outcomes. Methods: Consecutive AVM patients will be enrolled from 52 participating hospitals in mainland China. Baseline demographic, clinical and imaging data will be collected prospectively. Conservation, microsurgery, embolization, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and multimodal strategies are all included in this study. Patients will be divided into experimental and control group according to whether the treatment protocols are formulated by multidisciplinary team. Neurofunctional status, subsequent hemorrhage, seizure, and novel neurofunctional deficit will be queried at 3 months, annually (1 and 2 years), 3 years, and 10 years follow-up. Results: Between August 2011 and April 2021, 3241 AVMs were enrolled in 11 participating sites. Among them, 59.0% were male with an average age of 28.4 ± 14.6 years, 61.2% had rupture history and 2268 hemorrhagic events occurred before admission. The median Spetzler-Martin grade and Lawton-Young grade was 3 and 5, respectively. Microsurgery is the dominant strategy (35.7%), with a similar proportion of embolization, SRS, and a combination of both (12.7%; 14.8%; 11.8%; respectively). Among them, 15.43% underwent multidisciplinary assessment and received standardized treatment. At the most recent follow-up, 7.8% were lost and the median follow-up duration was 5.6 years. Conclusions: The MATCH study is a large-sample nationwide prospective registry to investigate multimodality management strategy for AVMs. Data from this registry may also provide the opportunity for individualized risk assessment and the development of optimal individual management strategies. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Registry (NCT04572568).
14 October 2023 in Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery
Background This study aimed to investigate the natural history of re-rupture in ruptured brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and to provide comprehensive insights into its associated factors and prevention. Methods This study included 1712 eligible ruptured AVMs from a nationwide multicenter prospective collaboration registry between August 2011 and September 2021. The natural rupture risk before intervention and the annual rupture risk after intervention were both assessed. Cox proportional hazard regression models and Kaplan–Meier survival curves were used to explore independent factors associated with AVM re-rupture. The correlation between these factors and AVM re-rupture was verified in multiple independent cohorts, and the prevention effect of intervention timing and intervention strategies on AVM re-rupture was further analyzed. Results The annual re-rupture risk in ruptured AVMs was 7.6%, and the cumulative re-rupture risk in the first 1, 3, 5, and 10 years following the initial rupture were 10%, 25%, 37.5%, and 50%, respectively. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis confirmed adult patients, ventricular system involvement, and any deep venous drainage as independent factors associated with AVM re-rupture. The intervention was found to significantly reduce the risk of AVM re-rupture (annual rupture risk 11.34% vs 1.70%, p<0.001), especially in those who underwent surgical resection (annual rupture risk 0.13%). Conclusions The risk of re-rupture in ruptured AVMs is high. Adult patients, ventricular system involvement, and any deep venous drainage are independent risk factors for re-rupture. Applying the results universally to all ruptured AVM cases may be biased. Intervention could effectively reduce the risk of re-rupture.
17 October 2023 in CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics
Objective: The aim of this study is to explore whether preoperative hemoglobin levels could serve as a prospective biomarker for early brain injury in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). This investigation seeks to discern its association with postoperative complications and unfavorable clinical outcomes.Methods: We conducted a comprehensive analysis of data derived from the LongTeam registry, including patients with aSAH diagnosed between January 2015 and September 2021. These patients were stratified into three distinct groups based on their hemoglobin levels: anemic, standard, and elevated HGB. We employed logistic models featuring spline transformations to assess the relationship between HGB levels and in‐hospital complications. Furthermore, a multivariate Cox proportional hazard model was employed to estimate the impact of elevated hemoglobin levels on the hazard function, which was elucidated through Kaplan–Meier curves.Results: Our study comprised a total of 988 patients, among whom 115 (11.6%) presented preoperative anemia, and 63 (6.4%) exhibited elevated preoperative HGB levels. Following adjustments for potential confounding factors, no significant disparity in risk was evident between anemic patients and those with standard HGB levels. However, individuals with elevated HGB levels displayed a heightened incidence and an increased risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT, odds ratio [OR] = 2.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16–4.91, p = 0.018; hazard ratio [HR] = 2.05, 95% CI 1.08–3.92, p = 0.015). Aberrant HGB concentrations did not demonstrate an association with other clinical outcomes.Conclusion: Our findings emphasize that abnormal HGB levels show no association with adverse outcomes at the 90 days mark after accounting for clinical confounding factors in patients with aSAH. Simultaneously, the study illuminates the potential of HGB as an early indicator for identifying patients at a heightened risk of developing DVT.
12 March 2024 in Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery
Background The hemodynamics of brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) may have implications for hemorrhage. This study aimed to explore the hemodynamics of ruptured AVMs by direct microcatheter intravascular pressure monitoring (MIPM) and indirect quantitative digital subtraction angiography (QDSA). Methods We recruited patients with AVMs at a tertiary neurosurgery center from October 2020 to March 2023. In terms of MIPM, we preoperatively super-selected a predominant feeding artery and main draining vein through angiography to measure intravascular pressure before embolization. In processing of QDSA, we adopted previously standardized procedure for quantitative hemodynamics analysis of pre-embolization digital subtraction angiography (DSA), encompassing main feeding artery, nidus, and the main draining vein. Subsequently, we investigated the correlation between AVM rupture and intravascular pressure from MIPM, as well as hemodynamic parameters derived from QDSA. Additionally, we explored the interrelationships between hemodynamic indicators in both dimensions. Results After strict screening of patients, our study included 10 AVMs (six ruptured and four unruptured). We found that higher transnidal pressure gradient (TPG) (53.00±6.36 vs 39.25±8.96 mmHg, p=0.042), higher feeding artery pressure (FAP) (72.83±5.46 vs 65.00±6.48 mmHg, p=0.031) and higher stasis index of nidus (3.54±0.73 vs 2.43±0.70, p=0.043) were significantly correlated with AVM rupture. In analysis of interrelationships between hemodynamic indicators in both dimensions, a strongly positive correlation (r=0.681, p=0.030) existed between TPG and stasis index of nidus. Conclusions TPG and FAP from MIPM platform and nidus stasis index from QDSA platform were correlated with AVM rupture, and both were positively correlated, suggesting that higher pressure load within nidus may be the central mechanism leading to AVM rupture.