Causes And Risk Factors For A Cavernous Malformation

Trauma

An individual who experiences head trauma is more likely to be diagnosed with a cavernous malformation than those who do not. Head trauma does not cause an individual to develop a cavernous malformation but is what produces the discovery and subsequent diagnosis of a cavernous malformation in many cases. Trauma to the head can cause the fragile blood vessels that make up the cavernous malformation to burst and produce life-threatening bleeding in the brain. Head trauma has the potential to cause a hemorrhagic stroke in an individual who has a cavernous malformation.

When trauma to the head is evaluated with the use of diagnostic imaging tests such as an MRI or CT scan, any existing or ruptured cavernous malformations will be detected. Cavernous malformations can actually produce brain trauma when they grow large enough to take up space inside of the skull other tissues should be occupying. Micro-bleeding from the cavernous malformation in the brain can cause pressure to build up and compress tissues of the brain that leads to a traumatic brain injury. Facial trauma and neck trauma have also been implicated in a brain injury precipitated from a ruptured cavernous malformation upon impact.

Spinal Injury

An individual who has experienced a spinal injury is at a higher risk of having a cavernous malformation than others. Instead of a spinal injury causing the development of a cavernous malformation, the cavernous malformations can cause an individual to experience a spinal injury. This risk factor is a less prevalent one, and cavernous malformations are typically found on the imaging performed to evaluate the patient's spinal injury. Only between three and five percent of all cavernous malformations are found in a location within the spinal cord.

Half of all cavernous malformations that occur in the spinal cord are found in the thoracic section, forty percent are found in the cervical section, and ten percent are found in the conus. A spinal injury can occur in an individual who has a cavernous malformation in their spinal cord because of its growth occupancy of space, significant hemorrhage, and repeated micro-bleeding. Unlike cavernous malformations that develop in the brain, cavernous malformations that occur in the spinal column can cause an individual to experience a spinal injury that can result in progressive myelopathy and partial or complete paraplegia.