BACKGROUND: Although dementia is one of the curable manifestations of a dural arteriovenous malformation (AVM), the pathophysiology remains unclear. CASE DESCRIPTION: We describe an elderly patient who had an AVM in the tentorium and manifested signs of dementia from ischemia, predominantly in the bilateral thalami. Intravascular embolization of the dural AVM resulted in amelioration of signs of dementia, and this improvement was consistent with that of neuroradiological and hemodynamic conditions in the thalami. CONCLUSION: The coincidental improvement of CBF in the thalami and signs of dementia after embolization of the AV shunt supports the concept of primary participation of the thalami in the pathophysiology of dementia of vascular origin in our patient.
BACKGROUND: Although dementia is one of the curable manifestations of a dural arteriovenous malformation (AVM), the pathophysiology remains unclear. CASE DESCRIPTION: We describe an elderly patient who had an AVM in the tentorium and manifested signs of dementia from ischemia, predominantly in the bilateral thalami. Intravascular embolization of the dural AVM resulted in amelioration of signs of dementia, and this improvement was consistent with that of neuroradiological and hemodynamic conditions in the thalami. CONCLUSION: The coincidental improvement of CBF in the thalami and signs of dementia after embolization of the AV shunt supports the concept of primary participation of the thalami in the pathophysiology of dementia of vascular origin in our patient.
Authors: Rene A Colorado; Marcelo Matiello; Hyun-Sik Yang; James D Rabinov; Aman Patel; Joshua A Hirsch; Ram Chavali; Thabele M Leslie-Mazwi Journal: Interv Neurol Date: 2018-03-27