Condition Specific Radiology: Dural Arteriovenous Fistula

OVERVIEW

This page is dedicated to covering how the condition dural arteriovenous fistula will appear on different types of imaging studies.

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS

Fundamentally, a dural arteriovenous fistula refers to an abnormal connection between the branches of dural arteries to dural veins or a venous sinus.

There are many different tyeps of dural arteriovenous fistulas, however the basic conept behind them remains the same. A few examples of their classification are shown above (image source).

Here are some general features of this condition that might be appreciated across modalities:

  • Abnormally enlarged/tortuous vessels might be present in the subarachnoid space
  • Arterialization of venous sinuses during arterial phase of contrast studies 
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY (CT-SCAN)

Key features of the appearance of this condition on this imaging modality are:

 

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI)

Key features of the appearance of this condition on this imaging modality are:

 

Page Updated: 08.09.2017