Intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas and sinus thrombosis. Report of five cases.

Dural arteriovenous fistula and sinus thrombosis are sometimes associated. The relationship between these two conditions remains unclear. Thrombophlebitis of the dural sinus may induce a dural fistula. Conversely, thrombophlebitis is sometimes observed in the course of dural fistulas. We report five cases of dural arteriovenous fistulas associated with sinus thrombosis. In three cases, the angiographic and pathological data indicated the responsibility of thrombosis in the occurrence of the fistula. In the others two cases, thrombophlebitis and fistula were simultaneously diagnosed by angiography. However, in one of these cases, the clinical data showed that the fistula probably was a causative factor in the occurrence of thrombophlebitis.