REMOVAL of a CAVERNOUS MALFORMATION from C7
CLIENT
Gary Lees, Art as Applied to Medicine Department, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
CATEGORY
Medical Illustration
AUDIENCE
Professional & Academic Education
SPECIALTY
Neurology & Neurosurgical
Description
A cavernous malformation (cavernoma, cavernous angioma, or cav-mal) is a vascular malformation – a tangle of thin-walled capillaries that can leak and damage tissue if occuring in the brain or spinal cord. Since they can grow slowly over time, it is generally advised to remove them in young patients. This cavernous malformation was located in the spinal cord at the level of the 7th cervical vertebra. A laminectomy and cavnerous malformation removal was preformed.
The procedure was observed and sketched. The major steps were researched and drawn. Schematics of the spinal cord, meninges, cervical vertebrae, and malformation were created. These were helpful to communicate with the surgeon to visualize the precise location of the malformation and which layers of tissue were divided. A cross section was created to convey the size of the malformation and degree of compression on the spinal cord. The layout was restricted to just one page to reflect the size requirements of a typical surgical journal.
