Cerebral cavernous malformations and developmental venous anomalies

Cavernous malformations (CMs) are angiographically occult vascular malformation considered as congenital anomalies of the brain. The first comprehensive review by Voigt and Yasargil (1976) provided a good overview of the knowledge of CMs in the 1970s with special references to epidemiology, diagnosis, and clinical findings. Over the past two decades numerous articles on CMs have been published, and our knowledge of this pathology has considerably evolved (Awad and Robinson, 1993; Moriarity, Clatterbuck, and Rigamonti, 1999; Simard et al., 1986). There is now general agreement on the diagnosis and pathology of CMs, but controversies still persist in the recent literature concerning their natural history and dynamic nature. Recent literature concerning the genetics of CMs and their biology with special reference to angiogenesis and cellular proliferation has provided new clues to the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of these malformations.