Background and purpose: Carotid cavernous fistula (CCF) can be classified as either direct or indirect according to the arterial feeder source. The current standard treatment for CCF is endovascular embolization. In this case series, 21 CCF (direct and indirect) embolization procedures were treated with multimodal endovascular therapy to explore safety, technique and clinical efficacy.
Method and patients: The neurointerventional database was reviewed for all cases of CCF. Demographic information, indications for the procedure, presenting symptoms, endovascular therapy types, complications and procedure angiographic and clinical efficacy were collected.
Results: 21 CCF embolization procedures were performed using multimodal therapy on 15 patients (eight females and seven males) with a mean age of 56.4±22.4 years (15-90 years), with 60% traumatic CCF and 40% spontaneous CCF presenting mainly with typical visual symptoms. 10 patients were treated in one session, four patients underwent two sessions and one required three sessions of endovascular therapy. Complete fistula occlusion was achieved in 10/15 patients (73.3%) in one session and in 14/15 (93.3%) patients after two or more sessions. One patient's symptoms (case No 15) improved dramatically after the second session despite incomplete obliteration of the CCF. No periprocedural complications were reported. Long term follow-up showed one recurrence of the CCF with a mean follow-up time of 201±17.2 months (range 1-56 months). Patient No 6 was lost to follow-up.
Conclusion: Multimodal endovascular embolization of CCF appears to be safe with a high success rate of complete obliteration. This case series demonstrates complete occlusion in 73.3% of the patients after one session and in 93.3% after the second session.