Surgeons at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix removed a spinal lesion from a teenager who traveled from Europe to undergo the complex procedure, AZfamily.com reported April 23.
The Romanian patient was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation on his spine. The rare condition is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels connecting arteries and veins, which disrupts normal blood flow and oxygen circulation.
Without treatment, arteriovenous malformation can permanently damage the spinal cord and potentially cause paralysis, according to Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic.
An October episode caused by the arteriovenous malformation had put the patient into a coma for a couple of days. After that, he sought to have the lesion removed, but surgeons in Europe would not perform the procedure, which they deemed too risky, according to the report.
Barrow evaluated the patient's condition and took on the case in which surgeons successfully disentangled the spinal cord from the arteriovenous malformation.
"It's always a little bit humbling or a little bit concerning when others say there's no hope and this is inoperable, "Michael Lawton, MD, president and CEO of Barrow Neurological Institute told the publication. "But that's what we do here at Barrow. We take on those hopeless cases."