Treatment of arteriovenous malformations involving the hand.

BACKGROUND: Hand arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are difficult to treat because of the necessity to maintain function and the high complication rate of treatment. The purpose of this study was to review the treatment of hand AVMs with embolo/sclerotherapy and the surgical procedures at a single institute.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and identified the patients who were referred to the vascular division owing to hand AVMs between 1995 and 2009. The lesions were classified according to their affected areas. The treatments used at the clinic included conservative treatment, amputation, and embolo/sclerotherapy. We investigated the clinical data and assessed the treatment results.

RESULTS: Sixty-four patients were involved in this study. The median follow-up duration was 26.9 months (range: 3.5-141.8 months). The median age of the patients was 31.5 years (range: 0.3-75.0 years). All of the lesions were of the extratruncal (ET) form, and 37 cases (57.8%) were of the infiltrating type. Sixteen patients were treated conservatively. Primary amputation was performed in seven cases with previous complications such as ulcer, bleeding, or functional limitations. Embolo/sclerotherapy with ethanol was performed in 41 patients. Sixteen (39.0%) of them showed clinical improvement. The treatment of 20 (48.8%) of the 41 patients was interrupted owing to a variety of complications, and 2 (4.9%) of these patients failed with embolo/sclerotherapy. Skin necrosis was the major complication, and this occurred in 17 patients treated with embolo/sclerotherapy--14 of these cases were small and the skin necrosis healed with conservative treatment; 1 patient had autoamputation owing to necrosis; and 2 patients underwent amputation surgery owing to gangrene. The risk for skin necrosis was higher for the AVMs that involved the subcutaneous layer and the AVMs that extended diffusely (P = 0.021, P = 0.011). Seven neuropathic complications developed after embolo/sclerotherapy, and all of them were transient.

CONCLUSIONS: The symptoms and characteristics of the lesions are important factors in devising a treatment plan for AVMs. AVM treatment, and especially embolo/sclerotherapy, is a long-term prospect, and it carries a potential risk for serious complications. After every treatment, the lesions must be reevaluated and new treatment plans must be made by the members of a multidisciplinary team.