Tucker et al. describe a rare case of an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) embedded in the vestibulocochlear nerve presenting with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) treated by microsurgical elimination of the main feeding artery and partial nidus volume reduction with no permanent deficits. This 70-year-old woman was incidentally diagnosed 4 years previously with two small unruptured tandem aneurysms (ANs) on the right anterior inferior cerebral artery feeding a small right cerebellopontine angle AVM. The patient was followed conservatively until she developed sudden headache, nausea and vomiting and presented to our outpatient clinic after several days. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated findings suggestive of early subacute SAH in the quadrigeminal cistern. A microsurgical flow reduction technique via clipping between the two ANs and partial electrocoagulation of the nidus buried within the eighth cranial nerve provided radiographical devascularization of the ANs with residual AVM shunt flow and no major deficits during the 2.5 year follow-up. This is only the second report of an auditory nerve AVM. In the event of recurrence, reoperation or application of alternative therapies may be considered ¹⁾.

A 30-year-old woman presented with a subarachnoid hemorrhage resulting from rupture of an arteriovenous malformation in the auditory nerve.

During the operation, the auditory nerve bundle was found to be severely damaged and a nidus was identified inside the bundle.

Although arteriovenous malformations are thought to arise in the 4th to 8th weeks of gestation, this case might indicate a more specific time of emergence based on embryogenesis of the cranial nerves ²⁾