Combined interventional and surgical treatment of arteriovenous malformations.

This article describes the combined interventional and surgical treatment of arteriovenous malformations. The development of embolization as an adjunct to microsurgical resection of arteriovenous malformations has expanded the therapeutic armamentarium in the treatment of these lesions. Patient selection, indications, technical aspects as well as avoidance and treatment of complications with regard to endovascular embolization are discussed. Four individual cases are presented to show how embolization can be combined with microsurgery to achieve optimal treatment results.