Endovascular and Cerebrovascular Surgery

Conditions and diseases in your blood vessels can sometimes lead to serious symptoms that affect your brain and central nervous system. Arteries and veins in the brain and spine are also prone to conditions that can lead to severe complications if not treated promptly.

We have specialists who regularly perform procedures within blood vessels through an imaging technique known as fluoroscopy, which uses moving X-rays to see inside the body. Surgery within a blood vessel is minimally invasive, requiring only a very small incision, which allows for faster recovery and lower recurrence of disease when compared to open surgery. Our endovascular and cerebrovascular neurosurgeons treat a number neurological conditions and related issues that can lead to more serious disorders.

Diseases and conditions treated

• Arteriovenous fistulae (abnormal connection between the artery and vein)
• Arteriovenous malformation, or AVM (abnormal tangle of blood vessels)
• Carotid body tumor (often benign tumors in the neck)
• Carotid stenosis (narrowing of the major artery in the neck)
• Cavernous malformation (clusters of abnormal blood vessels in the brain) 
• Cerebral aneurysm (weakening of blood vessels leading to brain which can burst)
• Intracranial stenosis (narrowing of an artery in brain, which can lead to stroke)
• Moyamoya disease (blocked arteries at the base of the brain)
• Spinal arteriovenous malformations (a rare tangle of blood vessels in the brain)
• Stroke

Neurosurgical hybrid operating suite

VCU Health has the Richmond region’s only neurosurgical hybrid operating suite, equipped for both minimally invasive endovascular surgeries and open surgeries. The suite allows surgeons to combine the two techniques or use them simultaneously. State-of-the-art medical imaging and techniques such as angioplasty and stenting are offered to patients whose complicated anatomy or vessel blockages require surgery. In addition, the operating suite offers the ability to perform CT scans during surgery to further enhance patient safety.

Our physicians

John Reavey-Cantwell, M.S., M.D.
Dennis J. Rivet II, M.D.