Abstract

Background: Cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT) is a rare cerebrovascular disorder with recent increase in recognition due to clinical awareness and easy availability of MRI. CVT has varied clinical presentation and requires high degree of suspicion .CVT usually affects young individuals with annual incidence of 0.22 to 1.57 per 100,000 with female:male ratio of 3:1. The predisposing factors include infectious as well as non – infectious causes with pregnancy and postpartum period being the most common cause among females.

Methodology: The study was an observational hospital based study conducted during a time period of 1 year in General Medicine Department of GMC Srinagar. The study recruited a total of 42 patients who were above 15 years of age and were diagnosed as CVT on the basis of MRI Brain and MRV. The patients were interviewed and their clinical presentation and etiological /predisposing factors were assessed.

Results: in our study, the mean age of the patients was 34.29 years with majority of the patients in the age group of 25 – 35 years. The majority of the patients were females with female:male ratio of 2.5:1. The most common presenting symptom was headache in 95.1% patients followed by seizures in 47.6% patients. The most common sinus involved was sagittal sinus (38.1%) followed by equal involvement of sagittal plus transverse sinus and transverse sinus alone (19.1%). The most common pro-thrombotic condition in our patients was pregnancy and puerperium.

Conclusion: Cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT) is more common in females as compared to males (2.5:1). Any female in pregnancy and puerperium period presenting with seizures and altered sensorium and a woman with history of recent onset headache following intake of OCPs must be evaluated for CVT. All patients suspected for CVT must undergo MRI Brain with MRV for confirmation of diagnosis.

Keywords: Cerebral vein thrombosis, Sagittal sinus, MRV (Magnetic resonance venography), puerpurium.