Endovascular therapy of low- and intermediate-grade intracranial lateral dural arteriovenous fistulas: a detailed analysis of primary success rates, complication rates, and long-term follow-up of different technical approaches

OBJECTIVE Sinus-preserving (SP) embolization techniques augment endovascular treatment options for intracranial lateral dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs). The authors aimed to perform a retrospective comparison of their primary success rates, complication rates, and long-term follow-up with those of sinus-occluding (SO) treatment variants in the collective of low- and intermediate-grade lateral DAVFs (Cognard Types I–IIb). METHODS Clinical symptoms, complication rates, and Cognard grading prior to and after endovascular DAVF treatment using different technical approaches was retrospectively analyzed in 36 patients with lateral DAVF Cognard Types I–IIb. The long-term success rate was determined by a standardized questionnaire. RESULTS The SO approaches offered a higher rate of definitive fistula occlusion (93% SO vs 71% SP) but were accompanied by a significantly higher complication rate (33% or 20% SO vs 0% SP). The patients interviewed reported very high satisfaction with their health in long-term follow-up in both groups. CONCLUSIONS A higher rate of definitive fistula occlusion in the SO group was attained at the price of a significantly higher complication rate. The SP approaches offered a good primary success rate in combination with a very low complication rate. Despite some limitations of the data (e.g., a small sample size) the authors thus recommend an SP variant as the primary therapeutic option for the endovascular treatment of low- and intermediate-grade DAVFs. The SO approaches should be restricted to cases in which SP treatment does not achieve a downgrading to no worse than Cognard Type IIa.