Cavernous angioma associated with arteriovenous malformation of the brain--case report.

A 61-year-old man presented a rare case of cerebral cavernous angioma associated with cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) manifesting as headache. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an AVM in the right occipital lobe and a cavernous angioma in the left middle fossa. The patient underwent left frontotemporal craniotomy with total resection of the left parasellar intra-axial tumor. One month after the first operation, he underwent right occipital craniotomy with total resection of the right occipital AVM. The histological diagnoses were cavernous angioma and AVM, respectively. Immunostaining for angiogenic growth factors and structural proteins revealed different expression patterns of alpha-smooth muscle actin in these structures. Expression of structural proteins may reflect differences in their pathogenesis.