The authors attempted to better delineate the natural course of untreated cerebral dural arteriovenous fistulas. For a group of 295 fistulas, drainage pattern was most important in predicting the risk of future neurological events or bleeding. Moreover, presentation with a neurological event or hemorrhage was an independent risk factor for future neurological events or hemorrhage, respectively. The authors provided hemorrhage rates for various subclasses of dural arteriovenous fistulas to facilitate risk stratification, excluding partially treated lesions.
Keywords: NHND = nonhemorrhagic neurological deficit; cortical venous drainage; dAVF; dAVF = dural arteriovenous fistula; dural arteriovenous fistula; epidemiology; hemorrhage; natural history; vascular disorders.