title: Successful stent-graft repair of a vertebrojugular arteriovenous fistula.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe an apparently unreported endovascular means of treating a vertebral arteriovenous fistula (AVF) using a small-caliber stent-graft to permanently reconstruct the involved vessels.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 13-year-old girl presented with tinnitus caused by a high-flow AVF between the right extracranial vertebral artery and deep jugular vein arising from repeated internal jugular vein catheterization. A 4-mm-diameter balloon-expandable Jostent coronary stent-graft was placed in the vertebral artery via a percutaneous femoral access, with immediate and complete obliteration of the AVF and resolution of the tinnitus. Follow-up duplex ultrasonography at 15 months demonstrated patency and luminal integrity of the vertebral artery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vertebrojugular AVFs are rare and usually treated with transcatheter embolization techniques, but percutaneous repair using a small-caliber stent-graft appears feasible. This minimally invasive treatment might become the method of choice for AVFs in other small-bore vessels.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery, Humboldt University Medical School, Berlin, Germany. Ralph-i.rueckert@charite.de
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Rückert
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rutsch
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Filimonow
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lehmann
mesh_terms: D001164:Arteriovenous Fistula / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007601:Jugular Veins / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D015607:Stents; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014711:Vertebral Artery / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*