Re: Cavernous Mal. had bled

Posted By CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS on November 06, 1998 at 15:22:54:

In Reply to: Cavernous Mal. had bled posted by Kely Olds on November 05, 1998 at 18:12:56:






Dear Dr. Thanks for such a quick reply!  I guess I didn't tell you that on the MRI it showed that the malformation had apparently bled because it had a Hemosideren Ring (?) around it. But I guess we'll never know when it bled.
I thought maybe it had bled from the accident because of its location when the head is thrown forward or back.   Do you know of any information I could get on these things that are written in LAYMANS terms? haha
Thank You again..
Kelly.
Dear Kelly:
Sorry that you have a cavernous malformation.  There is little information except for medical textbooks on this subject.  That is because it is either a malformation that spontaneously arises or is genetically inherited.  The latter is very rare.  Since this is a rare disorder, there are no help groups that I know of out there.  As my collegue said, it is a malformation of blood vessels that for some reason are connected together instead of regions of the brain.  Since they are malformed, they bleed due to their fragility.  When they bleed they leave a ring of dried blood around the area (the hemisiderin ring you saw in the MRI).  If they bleed in an area that is sensitive, the blood can irritate the nerves and cause a seizure.  If in another area, it could cause headache, loss of consciousness, etc.  It would depend on the area that the canvernous malformation was located in.  It sound like you only have one malformation.  Let hope that it does not rebleed.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS