Congenital arteriovenous fistula in the gluteal region--a report of five cases.

Five cases of congenital arteriovenous fistula in the gluteal region have been encountered in our department in the past 20 years. In all cases, the fistulous masses were in the connective tissue between the gluteal muscles and well-localized. Preoperative angiography showed the feeding arteries to be the superior gluteal, the inferior gluteal, and/or the lateral femoral circumflex arteries, and all the arteriovenous fistulae were excised almost completely with success. In this report, we emphasize the importance of precise estimation of the feeding arteries on preoperative angiography and ligating them before excising the fistulous masses, to ensure safe surgical treatment.