Auntie Helen Will Be Fine

The spots on Auntie's liver are enlarged blood vessels which she has likely had all of her life. The doctors reduced the amount of coumadin she was taking so they could perform a biopsy on the growth in her abdomen. They finally were able to adjust the level so that the test could be done.

Auntie Helen has no cancer and will be fine. The spots on her liver are just a tangle of malformed veins. She has likely had them since birth. The same thing has caused the lump in her abdomen. She does not need surgery because hers is, according to the doctor, congenital. He told her that she would not have even known she had them had they not had MRIs done. He has no idea why she had a blocked bowl but did tests and found nothing wrong. It is now resolved. So she said, she could live to be 100.

There are four types of AVMs:
Arteriovenous malformation – abnormal tangle of blood vessels where arteries shunt directly into veins with no intervening capillary bed; high pressure.
Cavernoma – abnormal cluster of enlarged capillaries with no significant feeding arteries or veins; low pressure.
Venous malformation – abnormal cluster of enlarged veins resembling the spokes of a wheel with no feeding arteries; low pressure, rarely bleed and usually not treated.
Capillary telangiectasia – abnormal capillaries with enlarged areas (similar to cavernoma); very low pressure.