Clinical Experiences of Arteriovenous Fistula on The Face

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Arteriovenous fistula is one of high flow vascular malformations. Recently, arteriovenous fistula has been regarded as one of the type of arteriovenous malformations. The patients were diagnosed as arteriovenous malformation Schobinger clinical stage II. Even though arteriovenous fistula rarely occurs on head and neck, treatment of that is difficult due to frequent recurrence. In treating the arteriovenous fistula, chemical embolization, surgical excision and other treatment modalities were used, but the results were not satisfactory. The authors experienced three cases of arteriovenous fistula and treated them with surgical excision. METHODS: In cases, warmth, enlargement, pulsation, thrill, and bruit were found. For the accurate evaluation before the operation, angiography and MRI were checked in advance. Incision was made on the site of pulsation. The artery and vein connected to the arteriovenous fistula were dissected widely, individually ligated, and divided. And then the entire mass was totally removed. RESULTS: All surgical sites were healed well without complications and there was no evidence of recurrence in all cases up to for 2 years of follow-up examination. CONCLUSION: The arteriovenous fistula on face is a very rare disease and has difficulties in treatment. The authors experienced three cases of arteriovenous fistula with complete surgical removal and no recurrence was found in all cases.