Surgical treatment of dural arteriovenous malformation in the region of the sigmoid sinus.

The dural arteriovenous malformation in the occipitomastoid region usually has multiple arterial tributaries from the internal and external carotid and vertebral arteries. They converge towards the proximal segment of the sigmoid sinus, where the arterial blood is shunted into the venous channel. Five cases of this malformation are described. In four of them attempts were made to eliminate the symptoms by radical isolation of the transverse and sigmoid sinuses from all dural attachments. In addition, the mastoid bone over the fistular region had to be removed. To judge from our experience of these operations, this disease is curable.