Important Announcements

Nondiscrimination Policy Update

Boston Medical Center Health System complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), religion, culture, physical or mental disabilities, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression. BMCHS provides free aids and services to people with disabilities and free language services to people whose primary language is not English.

To read our full Nondiscrimination Statement, click here.

Spetzler Martin Grading Scale

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The Spetzler Martin Grading Scale estimates the risk of open neurosurgery for a patient with AVM, by evaluating AVM size, pattern of venous drainage, and eloquence of brain location. A Grade 1 AVM would be considered as small, superficial, and located in non-eloquent brain, and low risk for surgery. Grade 4 or 5 AVM are large, deep, and adjacent to eloquent brain. Grade 6 AVM is considered not operable.

Note however, that this scale does not necessarily correlate with risk of treatment by embolization or radiosurgery.

Spetzler Martin Grading Scale

Size of AVM

Small (< 3 cm) 1
Medium (3-6 cm) 2
Large (> 6 cm) 3

Location

Noneloquent site 0
Eloquent site* 1

Venouse drainage

Superficial 0
Deep 1

*Sensorimotor, language, visual cortex, hypothalamus, thalamus, brain stem, cerebellar nuclei, or regions directly adjacent to these structures.

References