[Cerebral venous thrombosis with familial antithrombin III deficiency]

A case of cerebral venous thrombosis with familial antithrombin III (AT III) deficiency was reported and we discussed the anticoagulant therapy of cerebral venous thrombosis from the viewpoint of AT III. The patient, a 17-year-old boy, was admitted to our clinic with severe bifrontal headache, generalized convulsions and progressive disturbance of consciousness. He developed deep vein thrombosis in his right leg and pulmonary emboli two years earlier when he was placed on heparin and so forth, followed by warfarin sodium. Warfarin was terminated 9 months prior to his recent illness. On neurological examination on admission, he was semicomatous with blurred disc margins, roving eye movements with right abducens nerve palsy, nuchal stiffness and right flaccid hemiplegia. Left carotid angiogram and CT scan revealed extensive superior sagittal sinus thrombosis, complicated with hemorrhagic infarcts in bilateral frontal lobes. When examined for coagulation studies, the patient and his father had decrease in AT III activity and antigen levels. He was treated successfully with antiedematous agents and anticonvulsants during acute phase of illness. He was thereafter placed on warfarin 5-6 mg/day with no further clinical thromboembolic event for 2 years 9 months. There was no neurological abnormality when he was last examined, although he was treated with valproic acid 1,200 mg/day and phenytoin 250 mg/day to control occasional adversive seizures. A coagulation study following infusion of 5,000 units of AT III was carried out. Warfarin was discontinued the day before the study. 0.64 U/kg of AT III administration resulted in a 1% increase in AT III level after the infusion. The biological half life of AT III was 14.4 hours.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)