Hemispheric developmental venous anomaly draining into a vein of Galen varix: a case report and literature review

Background: Developmental venous anomaly (DVA), previously known as “venous angioma”, is the most common cerebral vascular malformation, but hemispheric DVA is extremely rare. Case presentation: In this article we present a 21-year-old female with a large DVA draining the whole left hemisphere, combined with a vein of Galen varix and falcine sinus. To our knowledge, only 4 cases of hemispheric DVA have been reported before, however, none with a vein of Galen varix. This patient’s digital subtraction angiography also revealed double straight sinus with severe stenosis of one of the sinuses, which was considered to be the possible reason of the venous varix. The patient was managed conservatively, and her clinical status was stable for 1 year. Conclusions: Because brain DVA drains the normal cerebral parenchyma and the hemorrhage risk is relatively low, hemispheric DVA is considered to be a benign anomaly, and conservative treatment is recommended.