This type of lesion is seen in children. Dr. Yakes has treated many patients using a combination of transarterial and transvenous embolization, often with alcohol. He receives referrals from all over the United States for the treatment of this disease. A fistula is a direct connection between an artery and a vein. These can be very dangerous, in a similar fashion to arterial venous malformations.
Symptoms can result from a variety of means.
Here, the carotid artery develops a direct connection with the cavernous sinus, a network of veins which surround the carotid artery and runs adjacent to the optic nerve. Patients who have carotid cavernous fistulas often go blind in the involved eye. CNI interventional team has used a variety of techniques to treat carotid cavernous fistulas using only radiological means, thereby sparing patients the need for surgery. These often present later in life and usually have symptoms such as a whooshing sound in one ear. These lesions become particularly dangerous when this high pressure flow enters a vein which normally drains an area of the brain.