• Pietro Fiaschi, Alessandro Prior, Pier Filippo Sbaffi, Fabiola Bizzi, Alessandro D'Andrea, Bernarda Cagetti, Filippo Badaloni, Luca Allegretti, Nicola Mavilio, Riccardo Padolecchia, Valtero Valsania, and Gianluigi Zona.
• Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosciences (DINOGMI), San Martino University Hospital, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: pietro.fiaschi@alice.it.
• World Neurosurg. 2019 Feb 1; 122: e270-e278.

ObjectiveDorsal intradural arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) consist of a direct connection between a radicular feeding artery and the coronal venous plexus; this direct connection leads to arterialization of the venous plexus, venous congestion, and myelopathy. Controversy still exists regarding the best treatment modality of spinal dural AVFs. Surgical disconnection of spinal dural AVFs is a straightforward procedure with a high success rate and virtually no risk of recurrence or incomplete treatment. To identify factors associated with the clinical progression of dorsal intradural AVFs and quantify the range of surgical outcomes in terms of neurologic improvement as well as patients' perception of quality of life (QOL).MethodsA retrospective observational study of 19 consecutive patients treated with surgery over a 10-year period was carried out. We analyzed surgical results and clinical outcomes. We also evaluated the impact of this disease and its sequelae on the patients' postoperative health-related QOL.ResultsThe surgical procedure showed good results in terms of neurologic improvement as well as patients' perception of QOL.ConclusionsOur series confirmed that surgical obliteration of dorsal intradural AVFs is an effective and safe procedure. The results of this retrospective analysis make us believe that surgery, given its low morbidity and high success rate, represents a safe and effective first therapeutic option for these spinal vascular malformations. It could be considered to avoid unsuccessful endovascular attempts that could delay the definitive treatment of this disease. The surgical procedure showed good results in terms of neurologic improvement as well as patients' perception of QOL.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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