Computed tomography in the diagnosis of intracranial vascular malformations.

Thirty-one patients iwth intracranial vascular malformations were studied by computed tomography (CT), including arteriovenous malformations (AVM) (24), Sturge-Weber syndrome (3), vein of Galen malformation (2) and venous angioma (2). Non-contrast CT showed abnormalities in 27 cases consistent with hemorrhage, calcification, low-density cystic spaces, and post-contrast scan showed abnormal enhancement in 25 of 31 cases. In 14 of 25 cases, the enhancement pattern showed evidence of abnormal vessles to indicate the presence of vascular malformation prior to angiography, whereas in 11 cases the enhancement pattern was not sufficiently characteristic.