# New diagnosis support - dural AVM and aneurysm **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [November 1, 2025, 9:51am UTC](https://avmsurvivors.org/t/new-diagnosis-support-dural-avm-and-aneurysm/31467 "2025-11-01T09:51:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 7
**Author:** ![DickD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de0a6/32.png) [@DickD](https://avmsurvivors.org/u/DickD)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2025, 8:13am UTC](https://avmsurvivors.org/t/new-diagnosis-support-dural-avm-and-aneurysm/31467/7 "2025-11-05T08:13:58Z")
So the other thing we should set you up with when reading round the site is that DAVFs are classified differently from brain AVMs, perhaps exactly because of what @John_H says: that the risks are more around the impact of the AVF rather than the complexity of intervention. The scale used tends to be the Borden or Cognard scales: > [@Cognard and Borden Classifications for Dural AVF](https://avmsurvivors.org/t/cognard-and-borden-classifications-for-dural-avf/20868): > > Classification of dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVF) are different from regular AVMs and are not always recommended as necessary to treat. There are two main scales: Cognard and Borden: My doc never told me his classification of my DAVF but the impression I got was that even though it appeared on my MRI as a simple white dot – it was pretty much a straight shunt of blood from artery into my right transverse sinus – it was the amount of blood being diverted that he was interested in rather than the size _per se_. I _think_ mine was classified as type IIa/b. So don’t go round reading others’ stories about Spetzler-Martin grades because I don’t think that’s relevant to you if yours is in the dura mater. And so far, catheter embolization seems to be the most common approach to resolve a DAVF, so if that’s what comes out of the recommendations, we can talk to you about what that is as well. I’d describe an embolization as very gettable-throughable! Very best wishes, Richard --- _[View the full topic](https://avmsurvivors.org/t/new-diagnosis-support-dural-avm-and-aneurysm/31467)._