Purpose. To highlight the changes that have come about in recent years in the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of acquired carotid-jugular fistulas. Methods. We present a review of the literature on acquired carotid-jugular fistulas (CJFs), which includes studies from World Wars I and II up to today and a retrospective analysis of the lesion reports published in the period 2000–2012, with an update of Talwar's table. The case study of one patient suffering from an untreated, long-standing CJF recently treated by us is also presented and included in the updated table. Results. Thanks to early treatment of acute lesions by reconstructive and endovascular surgery, incidence of posttraumatic carotid-jugular fistulas is decreasing, while the number of iatrogenic ones due to medical advances is concomitantly increasing, specifically because of the ever more widespread use of central venous catheters for venous pressure monitoring, parenteral nutrition, and hemodialysis. Conclusion. Although such lesions seem destined to diminish in the future thanks to the above-mentioned diagnostic and therapeutic advances, the increasing number of internal jugular vein catheterizations performed worldwide implies that physicians will still be dealing with carotid-jugular fistulas for many years to come. 1. Introduction and General Considerations Arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) can be either congenital or acquired. Congenital AVFs are less common and frequently have numerous small arteriovenous connections, while acquired fistulas consist of a single larger connection, and they are most frequently the result of penetrating trauma or iatrogenic action (IJV catheter placements). Acquired AVFs have often traumatic origin, and war and after-war periods have offered the major contribution to their knowledge [1–6]. These lesions can involve all the body districts arteries with prevalence in lower extremities (49%). Superior members localizations follow for 16–26%, head and neck for 3 and 29%, respectively, and chest for 2-3% [7, 8]. Acquired AVFs involving major vessels in the head and neck are most frequently caused by penetrating trauma (gunshot injury and stab wounds) or by internal jugular vein catheterization for central venous pressure monitoring, parenteral nutrition or vascular access for hemodialysis, nowadays increasing in the developing countries [9]. The epidemiology of traumatic, noniatrogenic carotid-jugular fistulas (CJFs) depends on the varying incidence of cervical vascular trauma which was 10.7% of all injuries in WW I, 0.4% in WW II, 3.6% in the Korean War, and
References
[1]
S. F. Seeley, C. W. Hughes, F. N. Cook, and D. C. Elkin, “Traumatic arteriovenous fistulas and aneurysms in war wounded. A study of 101 cases,” The American Journal of Surgery, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 471–479, 1952.
[2]
C. W. Hughes and E. J. Jahnke Jr., “The surgery of traumatic arteriovenous fistulas and aneurysms: a five-year follow up study of 215 lesions,” Annals of Surgery, vol. 148, no. 5, pp. 790–797, 1958.
[3]
A. C. Beall, O. B. Harrington, E. S. Crawford, and M. E. Debakey, “Surgical management of traumatic arteriovenous aneurysms,” The American Journal of Surgery, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 610–618, 1963.
[4]
T. J. Whelan, W. E. Burkhalter, and A. Gomez, “Management of war wounds,” Advances in Surgery, vol. 3, p. 327, 1968.
[5]
R. L. Hewitt and D. J. Collins, “Acute arteriovenous fistulas in war injuries,” Annals of Surgery, vol. 169, no. 3, pp. 447–449, 1969.
[6]
N. M. Rich, R. W. Hobson, and G. J. Collins, “Traumatic arteriovenous fistulas and false aneurysms: a review of 558 lesions,” Surgery, vol. 78, no. 6, pp. 817–828, 1975.
[7]
G. Heberer and G. Rau, “Gefasserzat bei traumatischen arterio-venosen Fisteln mit vaskularer dekompensation Laugenbecks,” Archiv fur Klinische Chirurgie, vol. 299, p. 254, 1962.
[8]
J. Vollmar, Rekonstruktive Chirurgie der Arterien, Georg Thieme, 1967.
[9]
Y. Gong, H. X. Xu, M. Lin, and Y. Gu, “An iatrogenic complication of internal jugular vein catheterization for hemodialysis,” Irish Journal of Medical Sciences, vol. 181, pp. 135–137, 2012.
[10]
W. Hunter, “Further observations upon a particular species of aneurysm,” Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. 2, p. 390, 1764.
[11]
W. Osler, “Case of arteriovenous aneurysm of the axillary artery and vein of 14 years duration,” Annals of Surgery, vol. 17, p. 37, 1893.
[12]
R. Matas, “Arteriovenous fistula,” Surgical Clinics of North America, vol. 2, p. 1165, 1922.
[13]
M. R. Reid, “Studies on abnormal arteriovenous complications acquired and congenital. I. Report of a series of cases,” Archives of Surgery, vol. 10, p. 601, 1925.
[14]
E. Holman, Arterio Venous Aneurysm: Abnormal Communications between the Arterial and Venous Circulations, Macmillan, New York, NY, USA, 1937.
[15]
E. S. J. King, “Arterio-venous, (carotid-jugular) fistula and carotid aneurysm,” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, vol. 12, pp. 285–288, 1943.
[16]
J. V. Warren, J. L. Nickerson, and D. C. Elkin, “The cardiac output in patients with arteriovenous fistulas,” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 210–214, 1951.
[17]
D. C. Elkin and H. B. Shumacker, “Arterial aneurysms and arteriovenous fistula,” in Surgery in World War II, Vascular Surgery, D. C. Elkin and M. E. De Bakey, Eds., Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army, 1955.
[18]
N. M. Rich, J. H. Bangh, and C. W. Hugues, “Arterial injury in Viet Nam: 1000 cases,” The Journal of Trauma, vol. 10, pp. 359–369, 1970.
[19]
E. J. Jahnke and J. M. Howard, “Primary repair of major arterial injuries; report of fifty-eight casualties,” A.M.A. Archives of Surgery, vol. 66, no. 5, pp. 646–649, 1953.
[20]
T. W. Holmes, “Circulatory dynamics in the presence of the carotid-jugular fistula,” Circulation, vol. 29, pp. 905–910, 1964.
[21]
J. W. Pate, R. T. Sherman, T. Jackson, and H. Wilson, “Cardiac failure following traumatic arteriovenous fistula. A report of 14 cases,” The Journal of trauma, vol. 29, pp. 398–403, 1965.
[22]
J. Vollmar and D. Kranshaar, “Surgical experience with 200 traumatic arterial lesions,” in Traumatic Arterial Lesions, T. X. Houston and B. Rybeck, Eds., Stockholm, Sweden, 1968.
[23]
J. Ortiz, G. L. Zumbro, W. F. Dean, and R. L. Treasure, “Arteriovenous fistula as a complication of percutaneous internal jugular vein catheterization: case report,” Military Medicine, vol. 141, no. 3, p. 171, 1976.
[24]
S. Kakkar, P. Angelini, R. Leachman, and D. A. Cooley, “Successful closure of post-traumatic carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistula complicated by congestive heart failure and cerebrovascular insufficiency,” Cardiovascular Diseases, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 457–462, 1979.
[25]
L. Dallo, C. Pastrana, G. Rodríguez, O. Medina Mora, R. Barragán, and D. Bialostozky, “Acquired systemic arteriovenous fistulas. Experience of 33 cases,” Archivos del Instituto de Cardiologia de Mexico, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 159–166, 1984.
[26]
R. Robinson and L. Errett, “Ateriovenous fistula following percutaneous internal jugular vein cannulation: a report of carotid artery-to-internal jugular vein fistula,” Journal of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 488–491, 1988.
[27]
S. Talwar, A. Bhan, R. Sharma, S. K. Choudhary, and P. Venugopal, “Carotid artery-to-jugular vein fistula: repair using cardiopulmonary bypass,” Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 366–368, 2000.
[28]
F. Gobeil, P. Couture, D. Girard, and R. Plante, “Carotid artery-internal jugular fistula: another complication following pulmonary artery catheterization via the internal jugular venous route,” Anesthesiology, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 230–232, 1994.
[29]
M. A. Al-Kutoubi and I. Kreel, “Neck truma,” Postgraduate Medical Journal, vol. 70, pp. 367–368, 1994.
[30]
M. A. El-Shahawy and H. Khilnani, “Carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistula: a complication of temporary hemodialysis catheter,” American Journal of Nephrology, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 332–336, 1995.
[31]
V. Nandapelan, D. C. O'Sullivan, M. Siodalk, and P. Charters, “Acute airways obstruction due to ruptured aneurysmal arteriovenous fistula: common carotid artery to internal jugular vein,” The Journal of Laryngology & Otology, vol. 109, pp. 562–564, 1995.
[32]
Y. W. Chen, P. K. Yip, B. S. Hwang, J. S. Jeng, and W. H. Lin, “Color Doppler sonographic study of an iatrogenic fistula between the common carotid artery and internal jugular vein,” Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 777–780, 1995.
[33]
W. R. Nemzek, S. T. Hecht, P. J. Donald, R. A. McFall, and V. C. Poirier, “Prediction of major vascular injury in patients with gunshot wounds to the neck,” American Journal of Neuroradiology, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 161–167, 1996.
[34]
J. Y. Huart, M. Sibe, M. Al Sayed, J. Combe, and G. Camelot, “Carotid-jugular fistula after Greenfield filter insertion,” Journal des Maladies Vasculaires, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 308–311, 1996.
[35]
R. Avrahami, M. Levinzon, M. Haddad, and A. Zelikovsky, “Traumatic common carotid-internal jugular fistula: positive aspect,” Harefuah, vol. 132, no. 12, pp. 841–911, 1997.
[36]
I. Kaklikkaya, F. ？zcan, and N. Kutlu, “Double layered autogenous vein graft patch reconstruction of the common carotid-internal jugular fistula caused by gunshot wound,” Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 429–433, 1999.
[37]
T. Zakhariev, V. Chervenkov, V. Govedarsky, and A. Chirkov, “Our experience in the diagnosis and treatment of carotid-jugular fistulae,” Khirurgiia, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 16–19, 1999.
[38]
T. Ezri, P. Szmuk, Y. Cohen et al., “Carotid artery-internal jugular vein fistula: a complication of internal jugular vein catheterization,” Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 231–232, 2001.
[39]
K. P. Droll and A. G. Lossing, “Carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistula: case report of an iatrogenic complication following internal jugular vein catheterization,” Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 127–129, 2004.
[40]
S. M. Hazinedaroglu, V. Genc, A. Y. Aksoy, C. K？ksoy, A. Tüzüner, and E. Atahan, “A late onset carotido-jugular fistula following shotgun injury,” Vasa, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 46–48, 2004.
[41]
M. Vera, L. Quintana, J. Blasco, M. Real, and J. M. Macho, “Treatment with the placement of carotid stent of jugular-carotid fistula after the insertion of hemodialysis catheter,” Nefrologia, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 568–571, 2005.
[42]
N. Ezemba, E. E. Ekpe, H. A. Ezike, and C. H. Anyanwu, “Traumatic common carotid-jugular fistula: report of 2 cases,” Texas Heart Institute Journal, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 81–83, 2006.
[43]
M. A. Bawazeer, M. S. Al-Jared, K. A. Al-Brekeit, and W. M. Al-Harbi, “The use of endovascular stent-grafts for the treatment of common carotid-internal jugular fistula,” Saudi Medical Journal, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 101–104, 2006.
[44]
D. G. Kaitzis, A. G. Balitas, I. K. Skandalos, and A. K. Hatzibaloglou, “Carotid artery repair after erroneous insertion of a hemodialysis catheter: case report,” Journal of Vascular Access, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 136–138, 2006.
[45]
V. K. Sharma, A. W. Pereira, B. K. Ong, R. Rathakrishnan, B. P. Chan, and H. L. Teoh, “Images in cardiovascular medicine. External carotid artery-internal jugular vein fistula: a complication of internal jugular cannulation,” Circulation, vol. 113, no. 16, pp. e722–e723, 2006.
[46]
M. López-Qui？ones, X. Bargalló, J. Blasco et al., “Iatrogenic carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistula: color Doppler sonographic findings and treatment with covered stent,” Journal of Clinical Ultrasound, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 301–305, 2006.
[47]
A. Dell'Amore, F. Castriota, S. Calvi, D. Magnano, G. Noera, and M. Lamarra, “Post-traumatic carotid-jugular arterio-venous fistula,” Heart Lung and Circulation, vol. 18, no. 4, p. 293, 2009.
[48]
C. C. Chan, V. Lee, W. Chu, Y. H. Tam, C. K. Li, and M. M. K. Shing, “Carotido-jugular arteriovenous fistula: an unusual complication of internal jugular vein catheterization in children,” Pedriat Blood Cancer, vol. 59, pp. 1302–1304, 2012.
[49]
J. H. Kong, S. M. Park, T. H. Kim, D. H. Choi, and D. Y. Lee, “Late-onset congestive heart failure in a patient with a 58-year-old huge traumatic carotid-jugular fistula and pseudoaneurysm: endovascular treatment with a stent-graft,” Annals of Vascular Surgery, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 955.e5–955.e10, 2010.
[50]
D. A. Clevert, C. Kubisch, S. Weckbach, U. Frey, K. Stock, and M. Reiser, “B-flow and color Doppler sonography findings in iatrogenic carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistula,” Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 19–25, 2010.
[51]
H. V. Patel, V. V. Sainaresh, S. H. Jain et al., “Carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistula: a case report of an iatrogenic complication following internal jugular vein catheterization for hemodialysis access,” Hemodialysis International, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 404–406, 2011.
[52]
S. Bahcebasi, I. Kocyigit, L. Akyol et al., “Carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistula and cerebrovascular infarct: a case report of an iatrogenic complication following internal jugular vein catheterization,” Hemodialysis International, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 284–287, 2011.
[53]
R. Wadhwa, J. Toms, A. Nanda, K. Abreo, and H. Cuellar, “. Angioplasty and stenting of a jugular carotid fistula resulting from the inadvertent placement of a hemodialysis catheter: case report and review of literature,” Seminars in Dialysis, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 460–463, 2012.
[54]
B. Erkut, N. Becit, M. A. Kaygin, and Y. Velioglu, “Iatrogenic arteriovenous fistula between the common carotid artery and internal jugular vein: a case report,” European Journal of Vascular & Endovascular Surgery, vol. 30, no. 5, p. 567, 2005.
[55]
M. V. Jayaraman, H. M. Do, and M. P. Marks, “Treatment of traumatic cervical arteriovenous fistulas with N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate,” American Journal of Neuroradiology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 352–354, 2007.
[56]
O. Unal, B. Citgez, M. Battal, and O. Karatepe, “Multiple gunshot carotico-jugular fistulas,” BMJ Case Reports, 2012.
[57]
T. L. K. Rao, A. Y. Wong, and M. R. Salem, “A new approach to percutaneous catheterization of the internal jugular vein,” Anesthesiology, vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 362–364, 1977.
[58]
J. I. Sznajder, F. R. Zveibil, and H. Bitterman, “Central vein catheterization. Failure and complication rates by three percutaneous approaches,” Archives of Internal Medicine, vol. 146, no. 2, pp. 259–261, 1986.
[59]
F. E. Weale, “Un introduction to surgical hemodynamics Chap VII: arteriovenous fistula,” in Arteriovenous Fistula, pp. 74–78, Lloyd-Luke, London, UK, 1966.
[60]
R. T. Higashida, V. V. Halbach, F. Y. Tsai et al., “Interventional neurovascular treatment of traumatic carotid and vertebral artery lesions: results in 234 cases,” American Journal of Roentgenology, vol. 153, no. 3, pp. 577–582, 1989.
[61]
D. V. Feliciano, “Management of penetrating injuries to carotid artery,” World Journal of Surgery, vol. 26, no. 2, p. 284, 2002.
[62]
D. S. Sumner, Hemodynamics and Pathophysiology of Arteriovenous Fistulas in RB Rutherford, Vascular Surgery Saunders Company, 1977.
