Surgical treatment of a spontaneous intraorbital arteriovenous fistula with direct embolization via transconjunctival orbitotomy

Abstract

Spontaneous arteriovenous fistula is a rare orbital lesion that may cause proptosis, ptosis, chemosis, and visual disturbances. The widely practiced treatment is a transvenous embolization approach accessed from the femoral or petrosal sinus. In this case report, we present a surgical approach via transconjunctival orbitotomy for direct access to achieve complete fistula embolization. The postoperative course revealed progressive, near-complete symptomatic improvement.

Keywords: Arteriovenous fistula; embolization; intraorbital; orbitotomy.