Surgical treatment of arteriovenous malformations in the lateral ventricle.

Ten patients with arteriovenous malformation (AVM) predominantly involving the lateral ventricle were operated upon. All the AVM's were not large, less than 2 cm in diameter. Four AVM's were located in the head of the caudate nucleus; 3 were resected through frontal transcortical (transventricular) approach and 1 was excised through anterior transcallosal approach. Two of the former and the latter gave excellent results. Two AVM's located in the temporal horn and trigon in the dominant hemisphere were excised by middle temporal gyrus approach with excellent results. Four AVM's on the dorsal aspect of the thalamus were removed through posterior transcallosal approach with excellent results in 2 and good ones in 1. The brain incision should be as small as possible to enter the lateral ventricle. Position of the patients is also very important. Exposure to excise the AVM's predominantly located in the lateral ventricle is briefly discussed.