Parasagittal dural arteriovenous fistulas.

Abstract

Background: The majority of studies on parasagittal dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) have been limited to case reports or case series, and they are frequently reported alongside true superior sagittal sinus (SSS) DAVFs. Because of the selective bias present in the reporting of dispersed small numbers of parasagittal DAVFs, the results of each study may influence the findings. As a result, we present a large sequential cohort of parasagittal DAVFs from our institution spanning a 20-year period.

Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis involving 80 patients with parasagittal DAVFs who were hospitalized at a single medical center from 2002 to 2022. We explore their clinical manifestations, angioarchitecture, clinical and radiographic outcomes.

Results: We identified 80 patients with 85 parasagittal DAVFs. The cohort consisted of 69 men and 11 women, with a M ± SD age of 50.5 ± 11.1 years. Seventy-six patients underwent trans-arterial embolization (TAE), two underwent surgery, and two received conservative treatment. Immediate complete occlusion was achieved in 74 cases (94.9%). Fifty (96.2%) patients were cured, with no recurrence detected on final follow-up imaging. One patient died 6 months after the final subtotal occlusion, while the other patients experienced improvement or resolution of clinical symptoms following treatment.

Conclusions: These lesions carry a high risk of hemorrhage and nonhemorrhagic neurological deficits. In our series, TAE achieved a high cure rate for these lesions, with no major complications reported.