Introduction: Thrombosis of cerebral veins or sinuses (CVST) is a rare condition. In a monocentric retrospective cohort study the clinical characteristics, risk factors, radiological findings as well as course and prognosis of patients over the past 15 years were examined.
Methods: Between January 1998 and March 2013 all patients who were treated as inpatients for CVST at the department of neurology of the University of Heidelberg were systematically registered in a database. Along with all relevant clinical data the modified Rankin scale (MRS) was used to measure the clinical severity. A follow-up visit was performed at three time points. The odds ratios (OR) were calculated to establish predictors of good outcome (MRS 0-2), mortality at discharge and at follow-up. Significant variables after univariate analysis were tested for independency in a multivariate logistic regression model.
Results: A total of 143 patients were included in the study. The median age was 43 years (range 17-74 years) and 67.4 % of patients were female. The most common symptoms were headache (70.6 %), seizures (50.4 %) and paresis (37.8 %). The most prominent clinical risk factor was oral contraception (40.4 %). The two most common localizations of thrombosis were the transversal sinus with the sigmoid sinus (66.4 %) and the sagittal superior sinus (47.6 %). On admission 42.7 % of patients suffered additionally from intracerebral hemorrhage and 12.6 % from congestive infarction. Of the patients 9.5 % (10 out of 105) showed a pathologically reduced activated protein C (APC) resistance and 8.4 % (6 out of 94) a prothrombin mutation. All patients were initially treated with heparin and 88.7 % were switched to cumarin during the course of the disease. The median duration of anticoagulation was 15.75 months (range 1-121 months). On discharge 77.7 % had a good outcome and the in-hospital mortality was 4.7 %. The median time to follow-up in 108 patients was 36 months (range 3-132 months), 74.1 % of patients had a good outcome (MRS 0-2) and 18.5 % died. Independent predictors of in-hospital mortality were MRS on admission (OR 2.2, 95 % CI 1.03-4.7) and of mortality at follow-up the presence of a malignant disease (OR 50.2, 6-423) and intracerebral hemorrhage on admission (OR 10.3, 1.7-62.6).
Discussion: The results of this study are in line with previously published data on CVST. The most prominent clinical risk factors for CVST were female gender and oral contraception. At discharge from hospital and 3 years after CVST approximately 75 % of patients achieved a good clinical outcome. A severe clinical syndrome and the presence of an intracerebral hemorrhage on admission were independent predictors of mortality.