Spinal Vascular Lesions

Venous drainage of the spine and spinal cord: A comprehensive review of its history, embryology, anatomy, physiology, and pathology

“…Classically, there are four types of spinal vascular lesions that affect the venous system: dural arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) (type I) (Lasjaunias and Berenstein, 1990;Takai and Taniguchi, 2012), intramedullary arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) (type II), juvenile AVMs (type III), and intradural, perimedullary AVF (type IV) (Takai and Taniguchi, 2012;Harrigan and Deveikis, 2013).…”

“…Dural arteriovenous fistulas (dAVFs) (type I) are the most common spinal vascular lesion and usually located in the thoracolumbar spine (Rosenblum et al, 1987). They are more frequent in men with a mean age at presentation of 60 years (Harrigan and Deveikis, 2013) and can cause motor and sensory disturbances, back pain, and sphincter dysfunction (Niimi et al, 1999).…”

“…Embolization, even partial, may result in long-term clinical improvement and protection from hemorrhage, although repeat embolization for revascularization may be required (Biondi et al, 1990). Reports on radiosurgery are preliminary, but promising (Harrigan and Deveikis, 2013). Juvenile AVMs (type III).…”

“…They are generally rare and present early in life with pain and myelopathy ( Fig. 6) (Harrigan and Deveikis, 2013). Treatment is challenging and complete resection by staged embolization followed by surgery has been reported (Spetzler et al, 1989).…”

“…7). A varix is frequently present at the site of the fistula (Harrigan and Deveikis, 2013). They frequently present in early adulthood and are commonly in the upper cervical region and in proximity to the conus.…”