Years of nosebleeds - It was almost too late

Decades of nose bleeding became a deadly trap

Zina Martinez from Las Vegas bleeding from the nose for decades - almost every day. It was only when her son suffered a brain hemorrhage that the doctors sounded the alarm and realized that the woman suffers from a rare deformity of the vessels.

Not taken seriously

Zina had strong nosebleeds for the first time at the age of eight. Soon she was bleeding almost every day. The parents went to doctors again and again; they thought the bleeding was harmless, suspected as the cause of dry air in the desert or nose drilling.

Nosebleeds often have harmless causes. In Zina Martinez, however, it showed a vascular malformation that can lead to death.

Spasms ignored

None of the doctors recognized a connection between the nosebleeds and recurring cramps that the girl had been suffering from for years.

Blood from the mouth

When Zina is 22 years old, blood is running out of her nose. As before, she presses her nose together with her thumb and forefinger. But the bleeding does not stop but the blood gushes out of the mouth.

Doctors are at a loss

Still, the doctors do not know what's going on, but do not worry about it.

Zinas son near death

Zina Martinez is 36 years old and her three children Daunte, Antonio and Elliyana are healthy. But in May 2011, seven-year-old Daunte has to vomit at school, has a headache, he is sick. A CT scan shows a brain hemorrhage and also the cause: A congenital vascular malformation.

Arteriovenous malformation

These arteriovenous malformations are very rare. These are innate tangled vessels in the brain. So the blood flows from the arteries directly to the veins.

Blood pressure in the veins

In the veins, blood pressure and blood flow increase. The veins expand and can burst. Such cerebral hemorrhage can lead to death.

Long unnoticed

Vascular malformations in the brain are congenital, but sometimes also promoted by smoking or hypertension. Symptoms include epistaxis, headache, seizures, and paralysis. Most of them stay unnoticed for a long time and are discovered by chance during computed tomography.

Many experts asked

Vascular malformations treat doctors across disciplines. Neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists and neurologists are in demand. These decide on the treatment in the individual case.

Just made it

Down's chances of survival were around 50 percent. In artificial coma doctors operated on his vascular malformation. The boy survived without any consequential damage and returned home after eight days. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)