Intracranial Pial Arteriovenous Fistulae: Diagnosis and Treatment Techniques in Pediatric Patients with Review of Literature

Pial arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) are rare vascular lesions comprising single or multiple arterial feeders draining directly into the venous channel without intervening tangle of blood vessels as in brain AV malformations. In our present paper, we describe three cases of pial AVF in the pediatric age group with different presentations treated successfully with endovascular and surgical methods. Two patients underwent treatment for pial AVF by the endovascular technique and one by surgical clipping. The treatments were successful with good clinical outcome. We did not encounter any peri-procedural complications in any of the cases. Pial AVF is a rare entity and high degree of suspicion and adequate clinical and imaging knowledge is required to make the diagnosis. Exclusion of the fistula from the cerebral circulation should be done at the earliest to prevent devastating complications that result during the natural course of the disease.