Cerebral venous thrombosis--a review of 38 cases.

A series of 38 patients with angiographically proven cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) affecting dural sinuses is reported. This study shows that CVT is not rare, that the clinical diagnosis is extremely difficult because of the variable modes of onset and groupings of symptoms, that most CT findings are non specific and that angiography remains the best diagnostic tool. Only 4 patients died, which suggests a more benign outcome than classically described. None of the 23 heparin treated patients died, which indicates that anticoagulants were not harmful in this series.