Researchers from the Department of Surgery, the Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology and the Department of Clinical Oncology have proved that the non-invasive technology called ‘linear accelerator radiosurgery’ can successfully cure cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVM) in a collaborative research jointly conducted by the three departments since 1998.

AVMs are the leading cause of stroke in young people (aged 10 to 40). It is estimated that 70 to 80 patients per year suffer AVM hemorrhage (ruptured blood vessels with bleeding inside the brain) in Hong Kong.  A non-invasive treatment, radiosurgery involves directing focused radiation beams precisely to AVMs in a single session. Radiosurgery acts on the endothelial cells lining its blood vessels. These cells tend to multiply after the treatment and produce clots, which diminish blood flow through the tangle of vessels, eventually turning AVMs into harmless scars.

More than 100 AVM cases had been treated using linear accelerator radiosurgery since 1998. The CUHK researchers found that the success rate was as high as over 86%. The results were published in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience.

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