Appraising the plasticity of the circle of Willis: a model of hemodynamic modulation in cerebral arteriovenous malformations.

OBJECTIVES Cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) harbor a network of abnormal vasculatures, namely the nidus between arterial and venous components. The pressure gradient between these two components results in abnormal high-velocity arteriovenous shunts flowing through the nidus and alternate intracranial hemodynamics. This study hypothesizes that the flow patterns of the circle of Willis (CoW) are modulated by the alternation of intracranial hemodynamics occurring in cerebral AVMs. The flow patterns of the CoW before and after AVMs had been corrected and the arteriovenous shunts closed by radiosurgery were assessed to validate the hypothesis. PATIENTS AND METHODS Fifty patients (32 men and 18 women; mean age 35.8 +/- 4.2, range 23-52 years) with cerebral AVMs previously treated by radiosurgery were retrospectively investigated. This investigation used magnetic resonance angiography, performed prior to and after AVM surgery, to assess the CoW flow patterns. RESULTS The CoW flow patterns in nearly half of the subjects (20/50, 40%) altered after the AVMs had been corrected. The alterations included: (1) decreased size or ceased flow patterns in the CoW vascular segment: ipsilateral A1 (n = 1) of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA), ipsilateral posterior communicating artery (PCoA) segment (n = 7), contralateral PCoA collateral (n = 4), bilateral PCoA (n = 2); (2) increased size or opening of the previous 'hypoplastic' segment of CoW: ipsilateral A1 of ACA (n = 1), contralateral PCoA (n = 2), bilateral PCoA (n = 1), and (3) biphasic alteration of the CoW: ceased ipsilateral PCoA segment and opening ipsilateral A1 of the ACA (n = 1), ceased ipsilateral PCoA and opening contralateral P1 of the posterior cerebral artery (n = 1). CONCLUSION The plasticity of the flow patterns in the CoW are modulated by intracranial hemodynamics as shown by the AVM model. The calibers of CoW arterial segments are not a static feature. Willisian collateralization with recruitment of the CoW segment may cease, or hypoplastic segments may reopen after closing arteriovenous shunts of the AVM.