Cerebral venous thrombosis – An 11 years analysis

Abstract

Introduction: multiple etiologies and various clinical presentations
for cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) have been identified. The
objective of this study is to characterize the population of our
hospital area with a CVT diagnosis. Material and Methods: We
used a non probability convenience sampling of patients admitted from the 1st January 2020 to the 31st December 2010,
having in their discharge records a diagnosis of cerebral venous
thrombosis. A retrospective, observational and descriptive study
where the respective clinical files were assessed. Results: We
have identified 20 patients, all Caucasians, aged between 18 and
82 years, with a mean age of 50.4 years, being 80% females.
Most had subacute progression (onset of symptoms between 48
hours to 30 days prior to diagnosis). Headache was the most
common initial symptom (85%), and in 15% of patients it was
the only symptom. The diagnosis was achieved through cranial
CAT Scan in 55% of cases. The superior sagittal sinus, the left
side sinus and right side sinus were the most often affected.
Treatment was made with anticoagulants in 75% of cases. Full
recovery occurred in 85% of patients and 10% patients died. We
found recurrent thrombotic events in 10% of patients. The most
common sequelae were headache (45%). The risk factor most
frequently found was oral contraceptives (35%). The etiology
remained unknown in 20% of cases. In 5 patients were identified
more than one cause for the CVT. Conclusion: In this work the
authors intend to raise the alert to an entity that requires a large
clinical suspicion for the diagnosis.