Coexistence of Intracranial Dural Arteriovenous Fistula and Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis: Systematic Review and Outcome Analysis

A substantial number of patients with intracranial dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF) suffer from coexistent cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), yet this clinical relation is poorly studied. We aim to study the clinical and radiological outcome of patients with coexistent dAVF and CVST based on different treatment modalities and to examine various other parameters in such patients. A search strategy was performed on the following search engines: PubMed, Wiley, Microsoft Academia, and Google Scholar. Analysis was performed using R software. Thirty-five articles met the inclusion criteria. Most studies (n = 30) used digital subtraction angiography alone to make the diagnosis. Treatment modality ranged from no treatment (n = 7) to a combination of anticoagulation, endovascular therapy, and surgery (n = 2). Radiological obliteration was achieved in the majority of patients (78%). However, there was no statistical significance between treatment modality and radiological outcome (P=0.651); 72% of patients achieved clinical improvement, with no statistical significance between clinical improvement and treatment modality (P=0.072). We did find a significant relationship between treatment modality and follow-up findings (P=0.023). When analyzing factors such as age, gender, grade, arterial supply, and time between dAVF and CVST development, we found no statistical significance. Additionally, there was no significant association between the grade of fistula and the treatment modality. The clinical relationship between dAVF and CVST is poorly studied. This is the first systematic review that aimed to study this relationship. Results from subsequent large-scale studies comparing to our findings are warranted.