Purpose: To describe our institutional experience with MVP™ micro vascular plug systems for the treatment of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs).
Materials and methods: We performed a retrospective medical record review of 52 patients with 119 PAVMs treated exclusively with MVP™ systems (69 procedures/153 MVP™ systems) between July 2014 and July 2018. All patients had PAVMs with feeding artery diameters ≥ 2 mm. MVP™ systems were deployed according to physician preference. We collected patient demographic information; procedural data (including size of feeding artery, size and number of embolics used per PAVM, fluoroscopy time, contrast administration), technical success rates, complications, and persistence. Persistence was assessed using computed tomography angiography (CTA) performed 1-3 months and 3-5 years after embolization per clinical protocol.
Results: All procedures were technically successful without major complications. Mean feeding artery diameter was 3.3 ± 1.2 mm. Mean fluoroscopy time per procedure and contrast volume administered per procedure were 35 ± 16 min and 217 ± 101 mL, respectively. A mean of 1.3 ± 0.8 MVP™ systems was used per PAVM. There were no instances of persistence during a mean follow-up time of 328 ± 258 days (range 26 to 914 days).
Conclusions: For PAVMs with feeding artery diameters of 2 to 7.9 mm (mean 3.3 ± 1.2 mm), MVP™ systems are safe and effective given their high technical success rates and lack of persistence. Further prospective work will be required to elucidate the advantages and disadvantages of these MVP™ systems for PAVM embolization.
Level of evidence: Level III.
Keywords: Computed tomography angiography; Hemorrhagic hereditary telangiectasia; MVP™ micro vascular plug system; Persistence; Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation.