Endovascular Treatment of Cerebral Venous Circulation Dysfunction Caused by Hemodialysis Shunt: A Case Report

Central venous disease, defined as ≥50% stenosis or obstruction of central veins, is one of many life-threatening complications faced by patients on hemodialysis. It often presents as upper limb edema to the arteriovenous (AV) shunt for hemodialysis, although neurological symptoms are rare. We report a case of central venous disease with neurological symptoms associated with endovascular therapy.

A 79-year-old man presented with status epilepticus. His past medical history included rectal carcinoma when he was 69 years old and indication for hemodialysis when he was 79 years old. However, he had no history of neurological disease or epilepsy. On arrival at our facility, CT perfusion revealed venous circulation dysfunction on the left cerebral hemisphere. DSA demonstrated regurgitation from the AV shunt on left upper limb to the cerebral veins and obstruction of the left subclavian vein. Ligation of the causal AV shunt was deemed difficult due to surrounding edema; therefore, endovascular transarterial coil embolization was performed. After completely occluding the AV shunt, patient's condition improved significantly. The patient was discharged 3 days later without neurologic symptoms, with no recurrence of epilepsy was observed to date.

Coil embolization of causal AV shunt significantly improved the neurological symptoms of central venous disease.