title: Progressive versus Nonprogressive Intracranial Dural Arteriovenous Fistulas: Characteristics and Outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A minority of intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas progress with time. We sought to determine features that predict progression and define outcomes of patients with progressive dural arteriovenous fistulas.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective imaging and clinical record review of patients with intracranial dural arteriovenous fistula evaluated at our hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 579 patients with intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas, 545 had 1 fistula (mean age, 45 ± 23 years) and 34 (5.9%) had enlarging, de novo, multiple, or recurrent fistulas (mean age, 53 ± 20 years; P = .11). Among these 34 patients, 19 had progressive dural arteriovenous fistulas with de novo fistulas or fistula enlargement with time (mean age, 36 ± 25 years; progressive group) and 15 had multiple or recurrent but nonprogressive fistulas (mean age, 57 ± 13 years; P = .0059, nonprogressive group). Whereas all 6 children had fistula progression, only 13/28 adults (P = .020) progressed. Angioarchitectural correlates to chronically elevated intracranial venous pressures, including venous sinus dilation (41% versus 7%, P = .045) and pseudophlebitic cortical venous pattern (P = .048), were more common in patients with progressive disease than in those without progression. Patients with progressive disease received more treatments than those without progression (median, 5 versus 3; P = .0068), but as a group, they did not demonstrate worse clinical outcomes (median mRS, 1 and 1; P = .39). However, 3 young patients died from intracranial venous hypertension and intracranial hemorrhage related to progression of their fistulas despite extensive endovascular, surgical, and radiosurgical treatments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Few patients with dural arteriovenous fistulas follow an aggressive, progressive clinical course despite treatment. Younger age at initial presentation and angioarchitectural correlates to venous hypertension may help identify these patients prospectively.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.) steven.hetts@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Hetts
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.).
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.).
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.).
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Amans
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.).
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Settecase
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.).
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moftakhar
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.) Neurological Surgery (C.F.D., R.T.H., M.T.L., V.V.H.) Neurology (C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.) Anesthesia and Perioperative Care (C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Dowd
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.) Neurological Surgery (C.F.D., R.T.H., M.T.L., V.V.H.) Neurology (C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.) Anesthesia and Perioperative Care (C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Higashida
authors.affiliation: Neurological Surgery (C.F.D., R.T.H., M.T.L., V.V.H.).
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lawton
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (S.W.H., T.T., D.L.C., M.R.A., F.S., P.M., C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.) Neurological Surgery (C.F.D., R.T.H., M.T.L., V.V.H.) Neurology (C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.) Anesthesia and Perioperative Care (C.F.D., R.T.H., V.V.H.), University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Halbach
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D020785:Central Nervous System Vascular Malformations / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D019586:Intracranial Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016634:Radiosurgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014690:Venous Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult