[Homocystinuria accompanied with cerebral deep venous thrombosis--a case report]

Homocystinuria is an inborn error of methionine metabolism, of which cause is mainly deficiency of cystathionine synthetase. The major clinical manifestations of homocystinuria are mental retardation, seizures, ectopia lentis, skeletal deformities and occlusive vascular disease. A case of homocystinuria accompanied with deep cerebral venous thrombosis was reported. A 29-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with unconsciousness and tetraparesis on December 7, 1984. She was diagnosed as homocystinuria due to cystathionine synthetase deficiency at 13-year-old. Amino acid analysis of serum revealed homocystinaemia (1.37 mg/dl, normal 0), hypermethioninaemia (1.27 mg/dl, normal 0.2-0.48) and low cystathionine content. CT scan revealed intraventricular hemorrhage and diffuse low density in basal ganglia and white matter. Cerebral angiograms showed that deep cerebral veins and superior sagittal sinus can not be recognized clearly in any phase, and Sylvian veins are opacified markedly. It is suggested that intraventricular hemorrhage, and low density area in basal ganglia and white matter is due to hemorrhagic infarction by venous thrombosis of internal cerebral vein. The major clinical manifestations of homocystinuria result from the elevated plasma homocysteine level. The excitotoxic effect of homocysteic acid accounts for mental retardation and seizures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)