Analysis of the embolization spinal dural arteriovenous fistula and surgical treatments on 52 cases of the patients

Spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (SDAVF) highly threatens people's life and health. Effective methods for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease are badly needed in clinical application. The objective of the present study was to sum up the diagnosis and treatment method of SDAVF to improve the diagnosis and treatment effect of the disease. The epidemiological data, imaging data, therapeutic methods and postoperative follow-up data of 52 cases of patients with SDAVF received in our hospital in recent 6 years were collected and retrospectively analyzed. There were 43 male patients and 9 female patients with ages of 39-77 years and average age of 59.6 years. The course of disease was 1 to 48 months with an average disease course of 14.4 months. All the patients had syndromes of lower limb numbness, pain, weakness and other sensory and movement disorders mostly accompanied with defecation dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results demonstrated that spinal cord abnormalities were found in spinal cord, which could be diagnosed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) examination. There were 40 cases received surgical treatment and there was no recurrence in the follow-up. There were 12 patients received embolotherapy, of whom 3 patients were operated the second time and 2 patients had embolization again. After 0.5-6 years of follow-up, postoperative symptoms of the 40 patients were improved in different degrees. The modified Aminoff-Logue function scoring was significantly decreased after treatment. SDAVF is the easily diagnosed and delayed spinal cord vascular lesions in clinical applications. The diagnosis relies mainly on MRI and DSA examinations. The surgical treatment effect is good and is not easily relapsed. The trauma of the interventional embolization treatment is small, but the recurrence rate is high.