Anterior fossa dural arteriovenous malformation supplied by bilateral ethmoidal arteries

Two cases of dural arteriovenous malformation (AVM) involving the base of the anterior cranial fossa are reported. The nidi in both cases were located in the region of the left cribriform plate and mainly supplied by the anterior ethmoidal arteries of both sides, draining through pial veins into either the cavernous sinus or the superior sagittal sinus. In the first case neurologic symptoms resulted from transient frontal lobe dysfunction presumably due to abnormal venous drainage, and the second case presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by rupture of dural AVM at the base of the anterior fossa. Both cases were surgically managed and the AVMs were successfully obliterated. This unique subgroup of dural AVM in the anterior fossa is thoroughly reviewed in the literature, and the epidemiology, symptomatology, neuroradiology, surgical treatment, and associated vascular lesions are discussed.