[Anesthetic management of parturients with intracranial arteriovenous malformation].

We have retrospectively analyzed twelve pregnancies in nine patients with intracranial arteriovenous malformation (AVM) managed at our hospital from 1984 to 1995. Following radical excision of AVM before or during pregnancy in 6 cases, transvaginal deliveries were performed without untoward sequelae. In three of five patients who received non-curative treatments, labor analgesia was provided using epidural local anesthetics. One patient who presented with ruptured AVM followed by medical therapy, elective cesarean section was performed under spinal anesthesia with a favorable outcome. Anesthesia courses in two patients for the resection of ruptured AVM during pregnancy were uneventful under enflurane and nitrous oxide anesthesia, or balanced anesthesia using fentanyl and nitrous oxide in oxygen. Simultaneous cesarean section craniotomy was not performed at our hospital.