Classification of spinal cord arteriovenous shunts: proposal for a reappraisal--the Bicêtre experience with 155 consecutive patients treated between 1981 and 1999.

Abstract

It seems legitimate to propose a categorization that takes into consideration a primary malformation (nidus or fistula) that evolves with time and in which angioarchitectural changes occur. Recognition of the factors originally responsible for the shunt (e.g., genetic hereditary or genetic nonhereditary) allows a different classification of SCAVSs.