My husband has an AVM in the brain stem as well. Last year it ruptured. It's been a long year, but he's alive and getting better. All I ever heard from doctors is that there's nothing they can do. I didn't give up and looked for more opinions. I contacted Dr. Steinberg from Stanford university. As a result, he has performed a surgery on the AVM removal, but due to its' location the removal was impossible. So he cut up some of the blood flow to the AVM, and opened it up for radiation. Next cyber knife radiation was performed. My husband is now recovering and getting stronger. If you have any questions, my email is ***@****.