Epilepsy and cerebral developmental venous anomalies (DVAs): A systematic review

Cerebral developmental venous anomalies (DVAs) are frequent and rarely symptomatic. When symptomatic, DVAs may present with seizures; however, little is known about the characteristics of DVA-related epilepsy. In this systematic review, we aim to describe the clinical and paraclinical features of patients with DVA-related epilepsy.

This review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021218711). We searched the MEDLINE/PubMed and Scopus databases for case reports/series on patients with DVAs complicated by seizures. Studies describing patients with a potentially epileptogenic comorbid lesion close to their seizure focus were excluded. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed to synthetize patient characteristics. The methodological quality of each study was evaluated using a standardized appraisal tool.

In total, 66 patients were included from 39 articles. The frontal lobe was the most common location for DVAs. The superior sagittal sinus drained half of the DVAs. Seizures were inaugural in most cases, and the most common manifestations accompanying seizures were headaches. EEG was abnormal in 93% of cases, but only 26% had characteristic epileptic spikes. More than half the patients suffered a medical complication due to their DVA, with hemorrhage and thrombosis being the most common. Refractory seizures were encountered in 19% of individuals. At 12 months of follow-up, 75% of patients were seizure free. Most included studies were at low risk of bias.

Epilepsy can be a complication of DVAs; these DVAs are mostly frontal or parietal, draining via the superior sagittal sinus or the vein of Galen.