Successful Stent-Graft Repair of a Vertebrojugular Arteriovenous Fistula

Abstract

Purpose: To describe an apparently unreported endovascular means of treating a vertebral arteriovenous fistula (AVF) using a small-caliber stent-graft to permanently reconstruct the involved vessels. Case Report: A 13-year-old girl presented with tinnitus caused by a high-flow AVF between the right extracranial vertebral artery and deep jugular vein arising from repeated internal jugular vein catheterization. A 4-mm-diameter balloon-expandable Jostent coronary stent-graft was placed in the vertebral artery via a percutaneous femoral access, with immediate and complete obliteration of the AVF and resolution of the tinnitus. Follow-up duplex ultrasonography at 15 months demonstrated patency and luminal integrity of the vertebral artery. Conclusions: Vertebrojugular AVFs are rare and usually treated with transcatheter embolization techniques, but percutaneous repair using a small-caliber stent-graft appears feasible. This minimally invasive treatment might become the method of choice for AVFs in other small-bore vessels.