Cognitive Analysis of Children and Adolescents with Cerebral AVM

• Grant number: 23/14248-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Feres Eduardo Aparecido Chaddad Neto
• Grantee: Adriane Oliveira Lima
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are congenital vascular anomalies connecting arteries and veins without the interposition of a capillary bed. They can be ruptured or unrupture, presenting symptoms that include headaches, seizures, focal neurological deficits and cognitive deficits, affecting functions related to visual perception, memory, learning and executive functions. The deficits can have a huge influence in the development of the children and the adolescents with AVM, affecting socialization and learning, that can bring negative consequences for the socioeconomic conditions and the quality of life of the patients and their family members. After treatment there is an improvement in the symptoms, which is even more evident in children and shows how important it is to establish an intervention prior to the rupture and based on the clinical findings. Objective: This study aims to analise the most common cognitive deficits in children and adolescents with AVM, verifying the relationship between the deficit and the presentation of the AVM, the size, the morphology, the location and the Spetzler-Martin grade, also comparing pre and postoperative tests to analise if there was some improvement of the deficits. Methodology: This is an analytical, observational, longitudinal, retrospective cohort study in which there will be an analysis of medical records and neuropsychological tests - Neupsilin of patients between 6 and 17 years old, with AVM, who were treated at Unifesp or at Beneficência Portuguesa de São Paulo (BP) between 2016 and 2023. About 20 patients will be selected, and the following data will be collected: sex, age, education, Spetzler-Martin grade, presentation, morphology, size, location, Neupsilin test results, cognitive complaint, postoperative evolution and image exams.