Vascular tinnitus and arteriovenous meningeal fistula

With the development of improved angiographic techniques, arteriovenous meningeal fistulas are being recognized more and more as an important cause of vascular tinnitus. Vascular tinnitus is generally considered to be objective and pulse-synchronous. This report concerns three cases of vascular tinnitus due to arteriovenous meningeal fistulas. They all could not or only hardly be objectified by auscultation and in one of them any pulse-synchronism was denied. The pathophysiology of vascular tinnitus is reviewed, followed by a more detailed discussion about the pathogenesis, the symptomatology and the radioanatomical aspects of arteriovenous meningeal fistulas. Finally, the report deals with the treatment of those fistulas.