Clinical characteristics and management of cerebral developmental venous anomalies accompanied with cavernous malformation

Developmental venous anomalies (DVAs) are common cerebral vascular anomalies that are frequently accompanied by cavernous malformations (CM), with mixed research on whether DVAs increase or decrease the risk of CM bleeding. This retrospective observational study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and management of DVAs accompanied by CMs. This study involved the clinical data of all patients with DVAs accompanied with CM from January 2013 to December 2023. A total of 14 patients aged 16-62 years (42.86 ± 14.56), were followed up for 10 to 150 months (53.57 ± 39.15). Twelve patients had a single CM, and two patients had multiple CMs. Nine patients did not experience bleeding, most patients showed no symptom aggravation throughout clinical observation or conservative treatment. Five patients with hemorrhage near the DVAs of the posterior cranial fossa experienced headache or focal neurological dysfunction. Two patients underwent surgery, and three obtained conservative treatment without new severe neurological dysfunction. Multiple de novo CMs formed after hemorrhage in two cases. Hemorrhage around the posterior fossa DVA may be an early signal of de novo CM.