Objectives: Cerebral vascular anomalies have been rare pathology of the brain in childhood. The most frequent clinical symptoms of them are: intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, headache, neurological deficits and epilepsy.
Aim: Because of very few reports about epilepsy in cerebral vascular anomalies in children the authors continued studies in this subject.
Material and methods: The subject of the study were 20 patients in the age between 5 to 15 years with cerebral vascular anomalies hospitalized in the Department of Developmental Neurology Medical University of Gdansk in the years 1980-2001. The clinical state and CT, MRI, angiography and EEG recordings were evaluated in all the patients. Arteriovenous malformations (AVM) were diagnosed in 13 (65%), in 5--angioma cavernous (25%), in 2--aneurysms (10%).
Results: In 4 children epilepsy was the first symptom of cerebrovascular anomalies. Epileptic seizures were observed in 4 patients in the acute stage of the disease. In 6 children epilepsy was the consequence of arteriovenous malformation.
Conclusion: Epilepsy occurred in 50% of children with vascular malformations. Among cerebrovascular anomalies, arteriovenous malformations are the most frequent cause of epilepsy in the group of examined children.