Spinal Arteriovenous Malformations

Symptoms

Most AVMs do not cause symptoms until people are in their 30s. But some infants are diagnosed with AVMs, and some AVMs are not discovered until a person is elderly.

Some people who have AVMs see a doctor because the blood vessels in the AVM burst and bleed into surrounding spinal tissue. This causes a sudden onset of weakness or numbness in the arms or legs and sometimes the loss of bowel, bladder and sexual function.

If there is minimal or no hemorrhaging, AVMs may increase symptoms over a period of months to years that may include pain in the lower half of the spine and progressive weakness of the legs and difficulty walking. Movement may be painful, and bowel, bladder and sexual function may become impaired.