Does Pregnancy Increase the Risk for Brain AVM Rupture?

A large, single-center, retrospective study suggests not, but the issue is not yet fully resolved.

Pregnancy increases the risks for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Case reports and at least one single-center analysis suggest that this can be explained partly by an increased tendency for brain arteriovenous malformations (AVM) to rupture during pregnancy. By contrast, several other single-center analyses found no increased risk for AVM rupture during pregnancy compared with the nonpregnant state. To better understand the rupture risk associated with pregnancy, investigators at a single referral center in China have now performed an analysis of a large group of women with ruptured AVMs.

The study investigators identified 979 consecutive women referred to a single teaching hospital between 1960 and 2010 with an AVM confirmed by angiography…

Reviewing Author

Hooman Kamel, MD

Disclosures

Speaker’s bureauGenentech

Grant / Research supportNational Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; Michael Goldberg Stroke Research Fund

Editorial boardsPLOS One; Scientific Reports

Leadership positions in professional societiesNeurocritical Care Society (Research Committee Member)