You are here

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Volume 2018, Issue
  • Importance of source images of time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography in the diagnosis of low-flow dural arteriovenous fistulae after traumatic brain injury

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Reminder of important clinical lesson
CASE REPORT
Importance of source images of time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography in the diagnosis of low-flow dural arteriovenous fistulae after traumatic brain injury
  1. Jun Tanaka,
  2. Atsushi Fujita,
  3. Taiji Ishii,
  4. Eiji Kohmura
  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jun Tanaka, jun_flatout{at}yahoo.co.jp

Summary

Three-dimensional time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) can reliably detect dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF); however, TOF source images should be checked in cases with low-flow dAVFs. A 69-year-old woman reported intractable pulsatile tinnitus after head trauma. It was difficult to diagnose dAVF using conventional MRA, but it was confirmed using a TOF source image. Cerebral angiography revealed a dAVF with a small shunted pouch draining into the sigmoid sinus, accompanying the arterial jet flow. Transarterial embolisation of the shunted pouch completely obliterated the dAVF. The patient’s tinnitus immediately disappeared after embolisation. This case suggests that a low-flow Borden type I dAVF is undetectable using conventional MRA, and we emphasise the importance of evaluating TOF source images. Transarterial embolisation of the shunted pouch while preserving the normal sinus flow was safe and effective.

  • neuroimaging
  • trauma cns /pns
  • interventional radiology

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-223512

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Contributors JT and AF conceived the study. JT, AF, TI and EK initiated the study design and helped with implementation. All authors contributed to refinement of the study protocol and approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.