It is possible to have a stroke after an AVM removal?

Es posible un derrame después de una cirugía cerebral al remover un AVM?

Hi, @infodinfodedoc - Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I'm terribly sorry to hear your son has had a stroke after his AVM removal.

I'd like to tag a few other Mayo Clinic Connect members who have talked about AVMs to see if they have some thoughts on the connection between your son's stroke and his AVM removal. Please meet @johne1993 @laura1970 @lizaf @mslee56. I'd also like you to meet @jenniferhunter.

How did the doctor determine that the AVM needed to come out? How did the surgery go, other than the stroke afterward?

@infodedoc Blood clots can be a risk of surgery. I had cervical spine surgery and ended up with a respiratory infection right after my surgery. The anesthesia had caused phlegm to accumulate in my lungs and I didn’t get it cleared. I remember that a walk in clinic would not see me because of a risk of a blood clot that may contribute to my difficulty breathing because I had recent surgery . They said the risk of blood clots would be higher for a month after surgery. I haven’t had blood clots, but remember the comments.

Is your son having treatment for the stroke or therapy? I do have an AVM that is asymptomatic, and it may increase the risk of stroke and that is why I pay attention to blood pressure. I only know of this because it was an incidental finding on imaging.

@lisalucier
You sound a lot like me! I have many similar interests. I noticed you said your AVM was asymptomatic. How the, I’m curious, did you realize you had an AVM?

Absolutely. Any surgery is a risk for not only stroke but for pulmonary embolism. Is part of the risk:reward scenario.

An AVM is an abnormal and (usually) complex tangle of arteries and veins anywhere in the body; if in the brain a stroke can become an issue.

When your son signed the consent for surgery the form should have noted all the potential side effects of the surgery, which is part of the surgical consent process. I’m sure the surgical team took all the appropriate and necessary precautions for this surgical procedure. Unfortunately no surgery is ever 100% without complications. I hope your son is doing well following the episode?

A stroke within hours of surgery (like 8 hours) can happen due to post-op bleeding, brain swelling, or sudden blood flow changes after the AVM is removed. Sometimes it’s ischemic (clot/low blood flow) or hemorrhagic (bleeding) depending on what’s seen on scans. It’s a rare but recognized complication of cerebral AVM surgery, and the exact cause is usually determined from immediate post-op imaging by the neurosurgical team.

@kkme - hi! I believe the member who was talking about having an asymptomatic AVM was @jenniferhunter. I bet she can tell you about how she realized she had an AVM.

@kkme Yes, you are asking about me. The AVM was an incidental finding because of an MRI of my brain. The reason they did that was because I passed out during a very painful neurological test. When you do that in front of a neurologist when you’re really scared of the test and you’re already laying down, it got his attention. I had a “myoclonic jerk” on my leg caused by the dropping oxygen levels and it suggested a possibility of a seizure. So here I am, a scared patient to be further examined because of the symptoms provoked by the doctor. I have no symptoms from the AVM and it’s been there all my life. The neurology testing was being done because of symptoms related to carpal tunnel and thoracic outlet syndrome and some sciatic pain. I have come a long way since then. Those were times when I feared most doctors and they didn’t understand how much emotional trauma they were causing me with their evaluations. I no longer have this fear and have been through some major surgery. It was work to overcome my fears, and it changed my life. I used to feel trapped and my blood pressure would shoot up, and that is not a good situation if you have a blood vessel defect that increases the risk of stroke. I don’t worry about it because I can’t change it. I did discuss this with my spine surgeon and he asked if I had any seizures. That was negative and he told me not to worry about it.