Published Online
on June 2, 2005

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2005

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Submitted on March 10, 2005
Accepted on April 7, 2005

Multi-Detector Row Computed Tomography Angiography in Diagnosing Spinal Dural Arteriovenous Fistula. Initial Experience

Ping-Hong Lai MD^*; Huay-Ben Pan MD; Chien-Fang Yang MD; Lee-Ren Yeh MD; Shu-Shong Hsu MD; Kwo-Wei Lee MD; Mei-Jui Weng MD; Ming-Ting Wu MD; Huei-Lung Liang MD; and Clement-Kuen Chen MD

From the Departments of Radiology (P.H.L., H.B.P., L.R.Y., M.J.W., M.T.W., H.L.L., C.K.C.) and Neurosurgery (S.S.H.), Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung, National Yang-Ming University; the College of Medicine and Health (C.F.Y.), Fooyin University; and the Department of Radiology, Changhua Christian Hospital (K.W.L.), Taiwan, ROC.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: phlai{at}isca.vghks.gov.tw.

Background and Purpose--Multi-detector computed tomographic (MDCT) angiography is a recently developed imaging technique that can study small vessels such as medullary arteries and veins. The purpose of this study was to evaluate MDCT angiography in diagnosing SDAVF.

Methods--Eight patients with initial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical findings suggestive of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (SDAVF) and 8 control subjects underwent MDCT angiography. Both MDCT angiography and catheter angiography were performed within 5 days in patients with SDAVFs. The results of MDCT angiography in patients with SDAVFs were compared with those of catheter angiography.

Results--MDCT angiography detected engorged perimedullary draining veins and correctly localized the fistula of the SDAVFs, and correlated well with catheter angiography. Fistula was at the thoracic level in 7 patients, and sacral level in 1 patient. MDCT angiography did not visualize the engorged perimedullary venous plexus in the control group.

Conclusion--MDCT angiography correlated well with catheter angiography in diagnosing SDAVFs. It might play a role in shortening the length of the catheter angiography in diagnosing this disease.

Key words: angiography • arteriovenous fistula • central nervous system • computed tomography • spinal cord • vascular malformations

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