title: [Characteristics and treatment of dural and perimedullary arteriovenous fistula at the craniocervical junction presenting with subarachnoid hemorrhage].
abstract: Dural and perimedullary arteriovenous fistula (AVF) at the craniocervical junction tend to cause subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). However, their natural history and clinical manifestations still remain to be elucidated. From 2003 to 2009, we encountered 5 cases of dural and perimedullary AVF presented with SAH. They were all male, ranging in age from 53 to 85 year-old (mean: 68 year-old). Rebleeding occurred in 1 patient on day 11. Outcome estimated by modified Rankin Scale did not change remarkably from 2.6 on admission to 2.4 at 3 months later on average. Cerebral angiography and 3D-CT angiography disclosed feeders originating from radicular or intracranial vertebral arteries which drained into the epidural venous plexus or spinal meningeal veins. One patient died of systemic complication during his clinical course. Thus we performed open surgery in the remaining 4 patients. Of these, we failed to occlude feeders completely in the initial surgery without intraoperative digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in 2 patients. Following this treatment we performed coil embolization and repeated open surgery with the aid of intraoperative DSA, respectively. In 1 patient out of the remaining 2 patients, we utilized intraoperative DSA to confirm complete disappearance of AVF composed of multiple feeders. These observations show that SAH caused by dural and perimedullary AVF at the craniocervical junction should be mainly treated by open surgery with the aid of intraoperative DSA in order to accomplish obliteration of the feeders because, otherwise, we might fail to confirm complete disappearance of AVF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Kazuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.forename: Tadayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagomi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015901:Angiography, Digital Subtraction; D001164:Arteriovenous Fistula / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D020785:Central Nervous System Vascular Malformations / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata; D008875:Middle Aged; D012886:Skull; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*