Venous Stasis and Cerebrovascular Complications in Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The factors related to cerebrovascular complications in cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) are controversial. We focused on venous stasis and investigated its relationship with cerebrovascular complications in CVST.

METHODS

CVST patients between June 2013 and October 2016 were enrolled. Relationships between cerebrovascular complications, defined as cerebral venous infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage, or subarachnoid hemorrhage, and cerebrum venous stasis and other clinical information were retrospectively analyzed. Venous stasis was evaluated by the prominence of the veins on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). The cerebrum was divided into 10 regions according to the venous drainage territories, and venous stasis was quantified by adding one point for venous prominence on SWI for each region (CVST SWI score).

RESULTS

All 5 cases in the noncomplicated group had a CVST SWI score of 0. The 3 patients with CVST SWI scores higher than 0 had cerebrovascular complications. The CVST SWI scores were higher in the complicated group than in the noncomplicated group (3.0 vs. 0, p = 0.010). Seizures were seen in all patients with complications and in none of the patients without complications (3 vs. 0, p = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

Venous stasis evaluated by SWI can help predict cerebrovascular complications in CVST. A seizure is an important initial symptom that suggests cerebrovascular complications in CVST.