title: Spinal dural fistulas without swelling and edema of the cord as incidental findings.
abstract: SDAVFs cause hypertension and hence outflow obstruction in the perimedullary venous system resulting in swelling and edema of the cord followed by dysfunction. Clinical presentation is usually with gradual progressive paraparesis, numbness, and sphincter problems. MR imaging typically demonstrates the dilated perimedullary veins and the swelling and edema of the cord. During the past few years, we incidentally found an SDAVF on MR imaging with dilated perimedullary veins but without swelling and edema of the cord in 5 patients with unrelated presenting clinical symptoms. Spinal angiography confirmed the presence of an SDAVF in all 5 patients. Although the indication was considered questionable, eventually all 5 fistulas were endovascularly or surgically treated, resulting in normalization of the MR images.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiology, St. Elisabeth Ziekenhuis, 5022 GC Tilburg, the Netherlands. wjjvanrooij@gmail.com
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: van Rooij
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nijenhuis
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Peluso
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sluzewski
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Beute
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van der Pol
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D020785:Central Nervous System Vascular Malformations / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D004487:Edema / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology*