Abstract

PATIENTS WITH CEREBRAL ARTERIOVENOUS malformations usually present with evidence of focal neurologic deficit, convulsions, or subarachnoid hemorrhage. In their review of 110 patiets with intracranial angioma, Paterson and McKissock1 described 17 patients who were found to have papilledema, and these patients had suffered intracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage. Only one patient had papilledema with elevated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure and had no evidence of recent hemorrhage or obstructive hydrocephalus; in this case the mechnisme of the papilledema was not clearly determined.This report describes a patient who had an angiographically documented arteriovenous malformation but whose most prominent clincal symptoms were related to intracranial hypertension—headache, visual blurring, papilledema—and these resolved following the insertion of lumbar-poritoneal shunt. A possible causal relationship between the vascular malformation and the intracranial hypertension in this case is suggested.