Minimally invasive treatment of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula with the use of intraoperative indocyanine green angiography.

Abstract

Spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF) is the most common vascular malformation of the spinal cord. Traditionally it is treated by the standard muscle-splitting midline approach with bilateral laminectomies extending from one level above to one level below the dAVF. We present a minimally invasive approach for ligation of dAVF with concurrent use of intraoperative indocyanine green (ICG) angiography. Minimally invasive watertight dural closure technique is also demonstrated and discussed. The minimally invasive approach with intraoperative ICG results in quicker recovery, early mobilization and shorter hospital stay compared to traditional open approach. The video can be found here: http://youtu.be/mNUeJKLxL3Q.