Department of Neurosurgery

The dural arteriovenous fistula is a direct connection of arteries and veines with a short-circuit connection, within the layers of the dura mater (meninges).

Symptoms may be tinnitus, vertigo, headaches, or also symptoms in the area of one eye such as cranial nerve palsy, exophthalmia, chemosis, or papilloedema. Symptoms may also be focal neurological deficits. In case of a spinal fistula, the symptoms are mainly increasing or ondulating paralysis of the legs. Also non-symptomatic fistulas may imply a hemorrhage risk. The intracranial bleeding may occur intrazerebral, meaning within the brain, or subarachnoidal, meaning on the brains surface, or subdural, which is underneath the dura mater

A treatment is necessary and is performed by the department of neurosurgery or endovascular by the department of neuroradiology .