Publications by authors named "Wouter I Schievink"

Background: Since the discovery of the cerebrospinal fluid venous fistula, its diagnosis has become more frequent, especially in patients with brain MRIs positive for spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). However, there is a need to understand the likelihood of diagnosis of a cerebrospinal fluid venous fistula in a patient with negative brain imaging.

Purpose: Our aim was to investigate the frequency of cerebrospinal fluid venous fistula in patients suspected of SIH who have negative neuroaxis MRIs.

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Cone beam CT is an imaging modality that provides high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging in the fluoroscopy suite. In neuroradiology, cone beam CT has been used for various applications including temporal bone imaging and during spinal and cerebral angiography. Furthermore, cone beam CT has been shown to improve imaging of spinal CSF leaks during myelography.

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Spinal CSF leaks are the primary cause of spontaneous intracranial hypotension, with the most common types of leaks including CSF-venous fistulas and dural tears. These leaks necessitate advanced myelographic techniques for accurate localization. Digital subtraction myelography is one such technique used at some institutions.

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Background: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) often results from cerebrospinal fluid-venous fistulas (CVFs), and transvenous embolization is an effective treatment. Precise preprocedural venous mapping is crucial to optimize outcomes and mitigate risks.

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of Ferumoxytol-enhanced MR venography (MRV) in delineating venous anatomy for preprocedural planning in CVF treatment.

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Background And Purpose: Symptoms indistinguishable from behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can develop in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension associated with severe brain sagging. An underlying spinal CSF leak can be identified in only a minority of these patients and the success rate of nondirected treatments, such as epidural blood patching and dural reduction surgery, is low. The disability associated with bvFTD sagging brain syndrome is high and, because of the importance of the venous system in the pathophysiology of CSF leaks in general, we have investigated the systemic venous circulation in those patients with recalcitrant symptoms.

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Objective: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) sagging brain syndrome is a disabling condition. An underlying spinal Cerebrospinal fluid leak can be identified in only a minority of patients and the success rate of non-directed treatments is low. Some of these patients have a remote history of craniectomy/cranioplasty and we report a positive response to custom implant cranioplasty revision many years after their initial cranioplasty.

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Cerebrospinal fluid leaks are important to recognize because they can cause debilitating symptoms for patients and have life-threatening complications. Leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the subarachnoid space can occur at the cranial or spinal level, with distinct clinical presentations, diagnostic evaluations, and treatment modalities depending on the type and location of the leak. Spontaneous, traumatic, and iatrogenic spinal CSF leaks cause reduced intracranial CSF volume and the clinicoradiologic syndrome commonly called "intracranial hypotension".

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Background And Purpose: CSF-venous fistulas (CVFs) are a common cause of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. The diagnosis and precise localization of these fistulas hinges on specialized myelographic techniques, which mainly include decubitus digital subtraction myelography and decubitus CT myelography (by using either energy-integrating or photon-counting detector CT). A previous case series showed that conebeam CT myelography (CB-CTM), performed as an adjunctive tool with digital subtraction myelography, increased the detection of CVFs.

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Background: Spontaneous skull base cerebrospinal fluid leaks (CSFLs) are associated with increased intracranial pressure in idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) and hypothesized to relate to skull base erosions due to increased CSF pressure. Given the increasing recognition of internal jugular venous stenosis (IJVS) as a cause of intracranial hypertension (IH), we evaluated the relationship between spinal CSFL and venous causes of IH.

Methods: The spinal CSFL database at a single institution was assessed to identify 12 consecutive spontaneous, non-traumatic spinal CSFL patients with CTV data.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to highlight the need for evaluating spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks in patients experiencing persistent headaches after spinal procedures.* -
  • A retrospective analysis of patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) revealed that 4% had spontaneous CSF leaks mistakenly attributed to prior medical interventions.* -
  • Findings suggest that in patients with chronic orthostatic headaches post-spinal procedures, spontaneous CSF leaks should be considered, particularly when brain MRI shows abnormalities.*
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We investigated whether idiopathic spinal cord herniation is a congenital or acquired condition and undertook a study to determine the risk of developing iSCH in patients with persistent ventral spinal CSF leaks. De novo formation of iSCH was established among all 6 patients with iSCH who had undergone prior spinal imaging for symptoms unrelated to iSCH. Among 51 patients with persistent ventral spinal CSF leaks, iSCH developed in 2 patients (probability increased from 0% at 5 years to 9.

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Background And Purpose: Spinal CSF leaks cause spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Several types of leaks have been identified, and one of these types is the lateral dural tear. Performing myelography with the patient in the decubitus position allows precise characterization of these leaks.

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A cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak developed in a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy following a diagnostic lumbar puncture. Two days and sixteen years later, respectively, paraplegia developed due to a functional disorder. Imaging revealed an extensive extradural CSF collection in both patients and digital subtraction myelography was required to pinpoint the exact site of a ventral dural puncture hole where the lumbar spinal needle had gone "through and through" the dural sac.

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Background And Objective: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) from CSF leak commonly produces headache. It also may produce sagging brain syndrome (SBS), often with neurocognitive symptoms indistinguishable from behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). The authors describe a new clinical sign that appears to be pathognomonic of SBS.

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Purpose Of Review: This review focuses on the challenges of diagnosing and treating spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH), a condition caused by spinal CSF leakage. It emphasizes the need for increased awareness and advocates for early and thoughtful use of empirical epidural blood patches (EBPs) in suspected cases.

Recent Findings: SIH diagnosis is hindered by variable symptoms and inconsistent imaging results, including normal brain MRI and unreliable spinal opening pressures.

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Background And Purpose: Spontaneous spinal CSF leaks typically cause orthostatic headache, but their detection may require specialized and invasive spinal imaging. We undertook a study to determine the value of simple optic nerve sheath MR imaging measurements in predicting the likelihood of finding a CSF-venous fistula, a type of leak that cannot be detected with routine spine MR imaging or CT myelography, among patients with orthostatic headache and normal conventional brain and spine imaging findings.

Materials And Methods: This cohort study included a consecutive group of patients with orthostatic headache and normal conventional brain and spine imaging findings who underwent digital subtraction myelography under general anesthesia to look for spinal CSF-venous fistulas.

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Positioned along the ventral surface of the pons, proximal superior cerebellar artery (SCA) aneurysms account for only 1.7% of all intracranial aneurysms [1]. Unlike more commonly encountered basilar artery aneurysms, patients often experience good outcomes when treated via endovascular coiling or surgical clipping [1,2].

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Article Synopsis
  • Cranial and spinal CSF leaks function differently, with opposing fluid dynamics, indicating distinct causes for each type of leak.
  • A 66-year-old woman experienced tension pneumocephalus linked to a CSF leak, requiring cranial surgery; however, she later developed positional headaches and imaging showed complications like subdural hematomas.
  • It's crucial for doctors to be vigilant about signs of intracranial hypotension due to spinal leaks following surgical repairs for CSF leaks, especially in cases involving otogenic pneumocephalus.
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An adolescent male presented with orthostatic headaches following head trauma. MRI showed cerebellar tonsil displacement and a bony defect in the clival skull base. Digital subtraction myelography (DSM) confirmed a cerebrospinal fluid-venous fistula (CVF).

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