Transarterial embolization and transvenous embolization for transverse-sigmoid sinus dural arteriovenous fistulas with cortical venous reflux: A comparative study.

Background: Dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) with cortical venous reflux (CVR) carry a high risk for neurological sequelae or death. Recently, transverse-sigmoid sinus DAVFs were shown as good indications for transarterial embolization (TAE) with ONYX. Here, we compared the effectiveness and safety of conventional transvenous embolization (TVE) with those of TAE with ONYX for transverse-sigmoid sinus DAVFs with CVR.

Methods: Sixty-one patients with transverse-sigmoid sinus DAVFs were treated from April 2013 to May 2020. Among them, 37 patients with CVR were included. Transarterial embolization and TVE were compared in terms of complete occlusion and residual CVR immediately after treatment, complications with worsening modified Rankin Scale (mRS) ≥ 1, amount of contrast media used during treatment, radiation exposure, and surgical procedure time.

Results: Ten patients were treated with 10 TAEs using ONYX and 27 patients with 29 TVEs. Transarterial embolization and TVE showed no differences in the overall complete occlusion rate (80% [8/10 patients] vs. 80% [23/27], respectively), whereas the residual rate of existing CVR was 10% (1/10 patient) vs. 3.4% (1/27) in the TAE and TVE groups, respectively. No complications with worsening mRS ≥1 occurred in either group. Among the parameters of amount of contrast media, radiation dose, and operative time, only radiation dose in the TAE group was lower than that in the TVE group (median: 2239 mGy vs. 3268 mGy, respectively;  = 0.07).

Conclusion: For transverse-sigmoid sinus DAVFs with CVR, TAE treatment reduced radiation exposure. However, both TAE and TVE achieved high complete occlusion rates and low complication rates.