Cerebral venous thrombosis with clinical, etiological and radiological findings

Aims: Thrombosis of the cerebral veins is a disease that can be caused by many factors and puts clinicians in a difficult situation during diagnosis and treatment. Our study investigated clinical findings, etiological causes, localization of thrombosis detected by neuroimaging tests, and the treatments received by the patients with cerebral venous thrombosis who were followed up as inpatients in our clinic. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 44 patients between the ages of 18-80 years who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis. Age, duration of admission, initial symptoms, neurological examination findings, Glasgow Coma Scale values at admission, etiological causes, topographic areas of involvement in neuroradiological examinations, and inpatient medical treatment were analyzed. Results: Forty-four patients (26 females, 18 males) with cerebral venous thrombosis were included in our study. According to the duration of presentation, 47.7% presented in the subacute period. Headache was the most common presenting symptom, with a rate of 90.9%, while nausea and vomiting (68.2%) and papilledema (54.5%) were the other common symptoms. Multiple vein and/or sinus involvement was present in all 17 patients with seizures. The most common etiological factors were thrombophilia (54.5%), pregnancy and the postpartum period (18.8%), and oral contraceptive use (15.9%). Multiple sinus involvement was observed in 41 patients (93.2%), while three had single sinus involvement. The rate of sinus involvement was 86.4% (38 patients) in the transverse sinus, 77.3% (34 patients) in the sigmoid sinus, and 52.3% (23 patients) in the superior sagittal sinus. Conclusion: Cerebral venous thrombosis has many etiological causes that can be overlooked due to the variety of clinical manifestations and changes in the prognosis when treated. Early treatment is essential because it can reduce the risk of death and severe disability. Our study is critical because it covers a relatively large number of cases.