Treatment of type II perimedullary arteriovenous fistulas by intraoperative transvenous embolization: case report

BACKGROUND Perimedullary arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are abnormal vascular connections between medullary arteries and veins without an intervening nidus. It is thought to be difficult to treat Type II AVFs which have multiple feeding branches. We performed intraoperative transvenous embolization to treat Type II AVFs. CASE REPORT A 30-year-old man with Type II perimedullary arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs), present at the level of the L-1 vertebral body, underwent surgical and endovascular treatment. The patient displayed slight motor weakness (4/5) and slight hypesthesia in the right lower extremity. Angiograms demonstrated that an anterior spinal artery and posterior spinal arteries were feeding arteries for the perimedullary AVFs. The patient underwent surgical occlusion of the fistulas three times. Fistulas present on the dorsal surface of the spinal cord were occluded with hemoclips, while those located on the ventral and ventolateral aspect of the spinal cord were occluded transvenously with isobuthyl-2-cyanoacrylate (IBCA) during surgery. Total occlusion of the perimedullary AVFs was achieved with these procedures, and no change was noted postsurgically in the patient's symptoms. CONCLUSIONS In summary, Type II perimedullary AVFs are sometimes difficult to treat using either embolization or open surgery. In such cases, both open surgery and intraoperative transvenous embolization should be performed in order to obtain occlusion of multiple fistulas.