[Cerebral venous thrombosis. Study of 17 cases]

We undertook this study to determine the clinical, neuroimaging findings, etiologies and final outcome of 17 patients with cerebral venous thrombosis diagnosed in a single center.

In this retrospective study we analyzed the clinical and neuroimaging findings of patients with cerebral venous thrombosis collected at our hospital from 1980 to 1997. The diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis was made by angiography and/or magnetic resonance imaging. Final outcome was assessed with the modified Rankin scale and patients were included in two groups. Differences between groups were tested using uni and multivariate analysis.

Seventeen patients (10 women) with a mean age of 41.9 years were analyzed. The most frequent clinical pattern was focal cerebral signs (70.5%) followed by symptoms/signs of increased intracranial pressure (12%) and diffuse encephalopathy (12%). The diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis was made by conventional angiography in 12 cases (70.5%) and by magnetic resonance imaging in 5 (29.5%). The most frequent site of venous occlusion was superior sagittal sinus (47%) followed by lateral sinus (35%). Etiologies were hematologic disease (29%), neoplasms (23.5%), oral contraceptives (12%), infection (12%) and unknown in 18%. The majority of the patients (59%) had minor neurological sequelae during follow-up. A decreased level of consciousness and neoplasm were associated with a worse functional outcome.

In our series the most frequent clinical pattern was focal cerebral signs and the main etiology was hematologic disease. A relatively good prognosis was observed in those patients. A decreased level of consciousness and presence of neoplasm were the factors associated with a bad prognosis in these cases.