Angiomi venosi ed epilessia

Purpose: to evaluate frequency and characteristics of epileptic syndromes associated with Cerebral Venous Angiomas (VAs). Method: all epileptic patients in which Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) showed VAs were studied. The characteristics of the epileptic syndromes and their relationships with VAs were examined. Results: out of nearly 1,000 epileptic patients submitted to MRI, 4 presented VAs. All of them had partial seizures, most frequently complex partial, with secondary generalization hi 3/4. Drug resistance (DR) was observed in 2/4. One patient had a small area of cortical dysplasia near the VA; another had a cutaneous angioma. In 2/4 there was no topographic concordance between the VA and the EEG focus. Conclusions: VAs are rarely found in epileptic patients, differently from other vascular malformations, in particular cavernomas. Topographic and/or etiological relationships between the VAs and the epileptic syndromes are still undefined. For this reason and since the VA may be the only source of cortical drainage of a cortical area, a possible neurosurgical hypothesis in DR patients should be considered with extreme caution.