Treatment of dural arteriovenous fistulas presenting as pulsatile tinnitus.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical picture and treatment of dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) presenting as pulsatile subjective tinnitus. STUDY DESIGN: Review of prospectively collected data. SETTING: Academic referral center. PATIENTS: Fourteen patients with clinically and radiographically diagnosed DAVFs. INTERVENTIONS: Treated by endovascular route. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Treatments, clinical course, complications, and evolution were evaluated. RESULTS: All patients presented with sleep-disruptive pulsatile tinnitus. Other symptoms included severe headaches, papilledema, proptosis, blepharoptosis, visual disturbances, and hemiparesis. Cortical venous drainage was present in 4 cases. Endovascular treatment was performed at least once by the arterial route in 14 patients and the venous route in 4 patients. The origin of tinnitus was always a vessel in or above the petrous bone. When these arteries or veins could not be visualized in the final control, the tinnitus disappeared. In the patients whose tinnitus returned, a vessel in the petrous bone could always be seen. There was no mortality. CONCLUSION: Endovascular treatment is an effective and safe treatment of DAVFs presenting as tinnitus.