Endovascular treatment of cerebral venous thrombosis involving the deep venous system

BackgroundCerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare but important cause of stroke. The superficial venous sinuses, including the superior sagittal sinus, are the most common location of CVT. Thrombosis of the deep venous system occurs less frequently, but can be more clinically severe by causing disturbances of consciousness due to involvement of deep anatomic structures including the thalamus and basal ganglia, leading to a higher incidence of death and disability. While anticoagulation is the standard initial recommended therapy for patients with CVT, endovascular intervention is sometimes proposed to help relieve cerebral venous hypertension.MethodsWe performed a retrospective case series review of a single-center interventional database over a 13-year time period to identify cases of CVT that underwent endovascular therapy and analyzed clinical and radiographic characteristics of these patients.ResultsWe identified 43 patients who underwent endovascular treatment for CVT. Twelve of these cases involved the deep system. Of the 12 patients in our consecutive case series, all 12 experienced recanalization of the deep system following catheter-directed alteplase infusions in the superficial or straight sinuses. On follow-up, these patients clinically did well in spite of initially poor neurologic examinations.ConclusionIn this single-center retrospective case series of 12 patients with deep and superficial venous thrombosis, endovascular treatment with site-directed thrombolytic infusion of the superficial venous sinuses with or without catheterization of the straight sinus resulted in angiographic recanalization of the deep veins and improved radiologic and clinical outcomes in 100% of the patients.