Successful presurgical endovascular management of venous sinus thrombosis associated with high-grade cerebral arteriovenous malformation: A case report

We report a case of a 39-year-old man presenting with a high-grade left parieto-occipital arteriovenous malformation (AVM) complicated by superior sagittal sinus (SSS) stenosis, seven years after the first presentation. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a newly developed perilesional edema. Venous sinus stenosis acutely progressed to occlusion and induced multiple intracerebral hemorrhages. An emergent balloon venoplasty of the SSS successfully recanalized the thrombosed sinus. Further, multistage transarterial nidus embolization was performed followed by surgical resection, resulting in a complete eradication of the large AVM. The emergence of perilesional edema is a key radiological feature for the early recognition of a newly developed venous drainage route disturbance, which would result in hemorrhagic events. Venous sinus thrombosis is a rare cause of drainage route disturbance in cerebral AVMs. For such cases, the recanalization of venous drainage concomitant with flow reduction by performing transarterial embolization is effective in preventing further hemorrhage, which enables a safe performance of subsequent radical surgery.